Amyloid precursor proteins and method of using same to assess agents which down-regulate formation of β-amyloid peptide

ABSTRACT

This application describes a purified and isolated fragment of a nucleic acid molecule encoding an amyloid precursor mutein, wherein the fragment comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding at least one marker and a nucleic acid sequence of about 419, about 475 or about 494 amino acid residues in which a portion thereof encodes a β-amyloid protein domain. Also described is a method for screening for a compound which reduces the formation of β-amyloid protein.

RELATED U.S. APPLICATION DATA

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 07/877,675, filed on May 1, 1992, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Abnormal accumulation of extracellular amyloid in plaques and cerebrovascular deposits are characteristic in the brains of individuals suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Down's Syndrome (Glenner et al., BBRC, 120:885-890, 1984; Glenner et al., BBRC, 120:1131-1153, 1984). The amyloid deposited in these lesions, referred to as β-amyloid peptide (BAP), is a poorly soluble, self-aggregating, 39-43 amino acid (aa) protein which is derived via proteolytic cleavage from a larger amyloid precursor protein (APP) (Glenner et al., ibid.; Kang et al., Nature 325:733-736, 1987). BAP also is thought to be neurotoxic (Yankner et al., Science 245:417-420, 1990). APP is expressed as an integral transmembrane protein (Dyrks et al., Embo. J., 7:949-957, 1989) and is normally proteolytically cleaved by "secretase" (Sisodia et al., Science, 248:492-495, 1990; Esch et al., Science, 248:1122-1124) between BAP-16K (lysine) and -17L (leucine). Cleavage at this site therefore precludes amyloidogenesis (Palmert et al., BBRC, 156:432-437, 1988) and results in release of the amino-terminal APP fragment which is secreted into tissue culture medium (Sisodia et al., ibid., Esch et al., ibid.). Three major isoforms of APP (APP-695, APP-751 and APP-770) are derived by alternative splicing (Ponte et al., Nature 331:525-527, 1988; Kitaguchi et al., Nature 331:530-532, 1988; and Tanzi et al., Nature 331:528-530, 1988) and are expressed as integral transmembrane proteins (Kang et al., Nature 325:733-736, 1987; Dyrks et al., EMBO J. 7:949-957, 1988).

Even though both APP-770 and -751 isoforms contain a protease inhibitor domain, it is the secreted portion of APP-751 (also known as Protease Nexin II (Van Nostrand et al., Science, 248:745-748, 1990) which is thought to be involved in cell adhesion (Schubert et al., Neuron, 3:689-694, 1989), remodeling during development, coagulation (Smith et al., Science, 248:1126-1128, 1990) and wound repair.

Disease related mutations in the APP gene are found either within BAP sequences or near the BAP domain. A mutation within BAP (BAP_(E22Q)) is found in APP of patients with hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis of Dutch origin (HCHWA-D), a condition in which a cerebrovascular BAP deposition is associated with stroke, and may be due to alteration in the rate of BAP aggregation (Wisniewki et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 179:1247-1254, 1991). A KM to NL double substitution two residues immediately N-terminal to BAP, which occurs in APP of patients with a particular form of early onset familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD), has been linked to the overproduction of BAP in tissue culture models (Citron et al., Nature 360:672-674, 1992). In another form of FAD, several mutations have been identified within the transmembrane-spanning domain of APP C-terminal to BAP at codon 717 (APP-770; V to F; I or G) (Kosik, Science 256:780-783, 1992). It has been suggested that these mutations alter normal coupling of APP to G-proteins (Nishimoto et al., Nature 362:75-79, 1993).

Although the mechanisms underlying proteolytic processing of APP are poorly understood, BAP is currently regarded to be central to the pathogenesis (Selkoe, Neuron, 6:487-498, 1991; Isiura, J. Neurochem. 56:363-369, 1991) and memory loss (Flood et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 88:3363-3366, 1991) associated with Alzheimer's disease. It has been reported in the literature that BAP may be neurotoxic (Kowall et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 88:7247-7251, 1991; Pike et al., Eur. J. Pharmacol. 207:367-368, 1991). Synthetic BAP (Yankner et al., Science 250:279-282, 1990) or purified plaques from Alzheimer's disease patients (Yankner et al., Science 245:417-420, 1989) are toxic to hippocampal cells in culture and neurons in rat brain, respectively. Recent reports suggest that BAP is involved in activation of the complement cascade leading to inflammation with potential neurotoxic consequences (Rogers et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89:10016-10020, 1992).

It has been observed that (a) amyloid plaques develop in AD brains, (b) a major component of plaques is BAP, (c) BAP is generated by proteolytic cleavage of APP protein, (d) mRNA levels of specific APP isoforms increase in AD suggesting that more APP protein is expressed, (e) APP point mutations which are thought to possibly alter normal processing have been identified in Familial AD (FAD) and "Dutch" disease, (f) injection of BAP into the brains of rodents both form lesions reminiscent of plaque pathology and result in memory deficits, and (g) plaque-like amyloid deposits have been detected in the brains of transgenic mice expressing human APP.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the above observations, it is therefore an important object of the present invention to understand how APP is processed to generate BAP. In order to determine the processing mechanism, it is a purpose of this invention to develop a cleavable APP substrate system which represents target sequences of BAP including normal flanking regions to provide recognition sequences for processing enzymes. The utilization of a common substrate for parallel strategies involving in vitro cleavage assays using cellular extracts and in vivo processing assays in tissue culture or bacterial cells, or in conjunction with a selection system aimed at cloning BAP-cleaving proteases (or other relevant proteins) is preferred.

A second purpose of this invention is to develop an APP substrate which is non-cleavable by secretase in order to better detect other putative abnormal processing events which are hypothesized potentially either to compete with secretase for limited substrate, or to occur at much lower frequency than secretase and whose effects may be otherwise masked by the mass action of secretase.

A third purpose is to provide secretase-cleavable and secretase-noncleavable APP substrates as probes with which to investigate cellular posttranslational modifications to APP in an attempt to determine the potential influence on normal secretase and abnormal BAP "clipping" activities. These areas include, among others, the consideration of various known APP point mutations, contribution by different cell/tissues types (normal- or AD-specific), the Kunitz Protease Inhibitor domain present in APP-770 and -751isoforms, APP phosphorylation and APP glycosylation.

A fourth purpose is to provide the ability to detect specific APP proteolytic events, either the normal secretase or the abnormal BAP-generating activities, which would enable the use of strategies which use phenotypic rescue as a marker for the cloning of potentially relevant and useful proteases in tissue culture systems.

Further purposes and objects of the present invention will appear as the specification proceeds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The foregoing objects are accomplished by providing novel purified and isolated fragments of nucleic acid molecules which encode amyloid precursor muteins and the polypeptides encoded therefrom. Also described are host vector systems useful for the recombinant production of polypeptides in procaryotic and eucaryotic systems. Cells comprising the host vector systems of this invention as well as methods of recombinantly producing these polypeptides are provided by this invention. Further provided is a method to detect the recombinant polypeptides of this invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The background of the invention and its departure from the art will be further described hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of APP-REP 751 (pCLL 602). APP-REP 751 represents a cleavable APP substrate system which contains target sequences of BAP including normal flanking regions (not to scale). The APP-REP protein is marked with a 276 amino acid deletion (corresponding to APP-751 beginning at XhoI through to and including the glycine codon at 15 amino acid residues N-terminal to BAP) and the insertion of sequences encoding N- and C-terminal reporter epitopes. Substrate P (SP) reporter epitope (RPKPQQFFGLM), which corresponds to Sequence I.D. No. 1, is inserted at the XhoI sitel Met-enkephalin (ME) reporter epitope (YGGFM), which corresponds to Sequence I.D. No. 2, is inserted at the C-terminus of APP. The resulting construct, pCLL 602, encodes 492 amino acids (see FIG. 2).

FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation depicting the construction of APP-REP from APP-751 cDNA. Partial representing N- and C-terminal regions of APP-REP are cloned separately as illustrated below. The N-terminal partial is constructed by ligating sequences encoding substance P (SP) to an N-terminal fragment of APP cDNA. The C-terminal partial is constructed by PCR amplification using the corresponding portion of APP cDNA to introduce novel ends including the Met-enkephalin (ME) reporter epitope. A functional APP-REP 751 clone is obtained by subcloning the partials as indicated. EcoRI (E), XhoI (X), HindIII (H), BamHI (B), SalI (S), XbaI (Xb).

FIG. 3 shows an epitope mapping of APP-REP 751 expressed in COS-1 cells. Immunoprecipitation analysis of cell lysate and conditioned medium using the SP (anti-N-terminal substance P reporter) and M3 (anti-C-terminal APP) antisera. Lanes 1 and 2, cell lysate immunoprecipitated with SP and M3 antisera, respectively; lanes 3 and 4, conditioned medium immunoprecipitated with M3 and SP antisera, respectively; lanes 5 and 6, conditioned medium of control cells transfected with vector DNA immunoprecipitated with SP and M3 antisera, respectively; lane M, molecular weight markers.

FIG. 4 shows pulse-chase analysis of APP-REP 751. Immunoprecipitation of cell lysate (A) and CM (B). COS-1 cells are pulsed with [³⁵ S]-methionine for 15 minutes and chased using cold methionine for 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 and 4 hours (lanes 1 to 6). Lanes 7, 8 and 9 are chase intervals of 0, 1 and 2 hours for control cells transfected with vector DNA. Lane M, molecular weight markers.

FIG. 5 shows epitope mapping and comparative expression of BAP_(E22Q), APP-REP 751 and BAP.sub.Δ11-28, which correspond to Sequence I.D. Nos. 3-5, respectively. A is a schematic representation of relevant BAP (boxed) and flanking amino acid sequences of BAP_(E22Q), APP-REP 751 and BAP.sub.Δ11-28 juxtapositioned against the putative transmembrane domain (shadowed). B-E the immunoprecipitation analysis with antibodies recognizing indicated substance P (SP), KPI domain (KPI), C-terminal APP (M3) or Met-enkephalin (ME). epitopes; Lane M, molecular weight marker. B shows conditioned medium obtained from COS-1 cells expressing APP-REP 751 (lane 3), BAP_(E22Q) (lanes 4, 6 and 8), BAP.sub.Δ11-28 (lanes 5, 7 and 9) or control cells with (lane 2) or without (lane 1) transfection with vector DNA. C shows cell lysates obtained from COS-1 cells expressing APP-REP BAP_(E22Q) (lanes 1, 4 and 7), BAP.sub.Δ -28 (lanes 2, 5 and 8) and control cells transfected with vector DNA (lanes 3, 6 and 9). D shows the accumulation of secreted APP-REP 751 fragments in the conditioned medium obtained from COS-1 cells expressing APP-REP 751 (lanes 2 and 6), BAP_(E22Q) (lanes 3 and 8), BAP.sub.Δ11-28 (lanes 4 and 7) or control cells transfected with vector DNA (lanes 1 and 5), which are pulsed with [³⁵ S]-methionine and chased for 45 (lanes 1-4) or 90 (lanes 5-8) minutes with cold methionine. E shows the accumulation of secreted APP-REP fragments in the conditioned medium obtained from stable (Chinese hamster ovary cells; lanes 1-4) and transient (COS-1 cells; lanes 5 and 6) expression of APP-REP 751 (lanes 2 and 5), BAP.sub.Δ11-28 (lanes 3 and 6), BAP_(E22Q) (lane 4) or control cells transfected with vector DNA (lane 1).

FIG. 6 shows peptide mapping of fragments secreted into the conditioned medium obtained from Chinese hamster ovary cells stably expressing APP-REP 751 , BAP_(E22Q) and BAP.sub.Δ11-28. A is the schematic representation depicting the APP-REP 751 and related derivative indicating the cleavage products and relevant carboxy-terminal fragments derived from treating the secreted fragments either with BNPS-Skatole (B) or cyanogen bromide. Downward- or upward-facing arrows represent BNPS-Skatole and cyanogen bromide cleavage sites, respectively. Amino acid lengths of relevant fragments for mapping or sequencing are given. B is the BNPS-Skatole treatment of fragments secreted into the conditioned medium obtained from CHO cells stably expressing APP-REP 751 or BAP.sub.Δ11-28. Mixture of conditioned medium containing APP-REP and BAP.sub.Δ11-28 (lane 1), or BAP.sub.Δ11-28 (lane 2) and APP-REP 751 (lane 3) alone.

FIG. 7 represents the nucleotide and amino acid sequence of the APP-REP 751 protein, pCLL 602, which corresponds to Sequence I.D. Nos. 6 and 7, respectively.

FIG. 8 represents the nucleotide and amino acid sequence (corresponding to Sequence I.D. Nos. 8 and 9, respectively) of the APP-REP 751 protein, pCLL 621, which differs from pCLL 602 in the absence of the Met-enkephalin marker (ME). This protein, pCLL 621, is constructed from pCLL 602 with a stop codon introduced in pCLL 602 to eliminate the ME marker.

FIG. 9 shows the organization of APP-REP 751 (pCLL 621). FIG. 9A is a schematic representation of APP-REP which is derived from APP-751 cDNA and contains intact sequences encoding BAP, the transmembrane spanning region and cytoplasmic C-terminus of APP (not to scale). APP-REP is distinguished from endogenously expressed APP isoforms by the deletion of 276 central aa of APP and insertion of the Substance P (SP) reporter epitope (Sahasrabudhe et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267: 25602, 1992). Filled boxes, putative N-glycosylation sites; filled circles in the cytoplasmic domain, sites of the 8 potential phosphorylation sites; bars, location of epitopes for SP and 6E10 antibodies; arrow, secretase cleavage site.

FIG. 9B represents the cytoplasmic APP sequences indicating the position of alanine substitutions introduced in APP-REP (Sahasrabudhe et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267: 25602, 1992) by site-directed mutagenesis (Kunkel et al., Methods in Enzymology 154:367, 1987) to eliminate potential phosphorylation sites. Codons are identified by numbers according to APP-751 and represent sequences corresponding exactly to the cytoplasmic domain of APP. The alanine substitutions generated are referred to as Y709A, T710A, S711A, T724A, S731A, Y738A, T742A, Y743A and T710A/S711S, and corresponds to Sequence I.D. Nos. 10-18, respectively. The underlined motif represent the `NPXY` sequences putatively analogous to the internalization consensus sequence of LDL receptor (Chen et al., J. Biol. Chem. 265: 3116, 1990).

FIG. 10 shows the phorbol-induced release of APP-REP PN-II fragment. Immunoprecipitation analysis of cell lysate (0.5 mL; lanes 1-3) and CM (0.5 mL; lanes 4-6) from stable expression of APP-REP in (A) HTB14 (human glioblastoma/astrocytoma) and (B) 293 (human embryonic kidney) cells using antisera to SP (APP-REP proteins expressed in exponentially growing monolayers of adherent cells are radiolabeled by the metabolic incorporation of 0.15 mCi of [³⁵ S]-methionine in a pulse for 15 minutes and chased for the times indicated with cold methionine; the supernatants are collected; CM and cell lysates are prepared (˜4×106 cells/10 cm culture dish/5 mL CM or lysate); immunoprecipitation, fractionation and quantitation are performed by scanning laser densitometry (Sahasrabudhe et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267: 25602, 1992)). Cells are pulsed with [³⁵ S]-methionine then chased for 0 (lanes 1 and 4) or 2 h (lanes 2-3 and 4-5) in the presence (lanes 2 and 6) or absence (lanes 1, 3, 4 and 5) of 1 μM PDBu. A dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solution with or without phorbol dibutyrate (PDBu; Sigma) is supplemented to chase medium (final concentrations: 0.05% DMSO with or without 1 μM PDBu). For this and subsequent autoradiograms, molecular weight markers (lane M) are indicated (kDa). Expression of APP-REP initially results in the appearance of two full-length, cell-associated forms. An `immature` ˜63 kDa form precedes the conversion to a larger ˜76 kDa `mature` (i.e., posttranslationally modified) form. Subsequent cleavage of APP-REP by secretase releases a shorter ˜67 kDa PN-II-like, N-terminal fragment into CM (Sahasrabudhe et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267: 25602, 1992).

FIG. 11 shows an immunoprecipitation analysis of heterogeneous N-terminal APP-REP fragments released into CM from COS-1 cells transiently expressing APP-REP. FIG. 11a represents CM (0.5 mL) from cells expressing APP-REP (lane 2), a derivative containing an aa substitution Y743A (lane 3; see FIGS. 9B and 13), substrate mutant defective in cleavage by secretase (lanes 4 and 5), or vector only control (lane 1) is immunoprecipitated with SP (Lantz et al., J. Clin. Invest. 86:1396, 1990; Kishimoto et al., Science 245:1238, 1989; Downing et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 9: 2890, 1989). FIG. 11b represents CM from PDBu-treated (lanes 1 and 3-5) or control (lanes 2 and 6-8) cells. APP-REP is pulsed with 0.5 mCi [³⁵ S]-methionine for 6 h and CM (0.5 mL) immunoprecipitated with SP only (lanes 3 and 6), 6E10 only (lanes 4 and 7), 6E10 following immunodepletion of CM with SP (lanes 1 and 2, from supernatants of CM following precipitation used in lanes 3 and 6, respectively) or SP following immunodepletion of CM with 6E10 (lanes 5 and 8, from supernatants of CM following precipitation used in lanes 4 and 7, respectively). Relevant portions of the autoradiograms are shown.

FIG. 12 shows the release of BAP into CM and effect of PDBu treatment on BAP formation. Immunoprecipitation analysis of CM from PDBu-treated (lanes 2, 4 and 5) or control (lanes 1, 3 and 6) COS-1 cells transiently expressing wild-type APP-REP (lanes 1-2), a derivative containing the Y743A substitution (lanes 3-4), or vector only control (lanes 5-6). Cells are pulsed as in FIG. 11b and CM (10 mL) immunoprecipitated with 6E10 antibody.

FIG. 13 shows the phorbol response in HTB14 cells stably expressing APP-REP 751 (pCLL 621) and related `phosphorylation-minus` derivatives. Immunoprecipitation analysis of APP-REP and a panel of `phosphorylation-minus` derivatives (FIG. 9B) stably expressed in HTB14 cells comparing treatment with PDBu and the release of PN-II. Preparation of conditioned medium (CM) and lysates and immunoprecipitation is as described above in FIG. 10B, except that APP-REP derivatives are pulsed in suspension, aliquoted and chased in the presence or absence of PDBu. For labeling of cells in suspension, cell monolayers are washed twice with 4 mL prelabeling medium (PM; methionine-free DMEM supplemented with 25 mM HEPES, pH 7.4) and incubated for 30 minutes at 37° C. to starve for methionine. Cells are then suspended by gentle trituration, pelleted, resuspended in 2 mL labeling medium (LM; PM supplemented with 2% dialyzed fetal bovine serum, GIBCO) and pulsed for 15 minutes at 37° C. with 0.15 mCi [³⁵ S]-methionine. An excess of ice cold LM is then added and the cells are washed twice by centrifugation at 4° C. Labeled cells are then resuspended at 4° C. in 2 mL fresh chase medium (LM supplemented with 1 mM cold methionine) and incubated at 37° C. for 2 hours. Amount of PN-II is expressed in arbitrary units relative to that expressed by APP-REP control (no PDBu treatment). Control (filled bar) and 1 μM PDBu-treated (open bar) samples are indicated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, there are provided purified and isolated fragments of nucleic acid molecules encoding amyloid precursor muteins, wherein each fragment comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding at least one marker and a separate nucleic acid sequence of about 419, about 475 or about 494 amino acid residues in which a portion thereof encodes a β-amyloid protein domain (BAP region). In the portion which encodes the β-amyloid protein domain, the sequence may also have deleted therefrom the amino acid residues from position 11 to position 28. The fragments of the invention may include, but are not limited to, the nucleic acid molecules selected from the group consisting of pCLL602, pCLL603, pCLL604, pCLL605, pCLL606, pCLL607, pCLL608, pCLL609, pCLL610, pCLL611, pCLL612, pCLL613, pCLL621, pCLL918, pCLL919, pCLL920, pCLL962, pCLL964, pCLL987, pCLL988, pCLL989, pCLL990 and the like.

As used herein, the term "amyloid precursor mutein" is intended to encompass an amyloid precursor protein that is mutated, i.e., it is derived from a nucleic acid molecule which has changes in its primary structure as compared to wild-type amyloid precursor protein (APP). Wild-type APP exists in three isoforms. Thus, the nucleic acid molecule is changed in its primary structure for each of the three isoforms of wild-type APP. As is known to those of skill in the art, a mutation may be a substitution, deletion, or insertion of at least one nucleotide along the primary structure of the molecule. The mutations which are encompassed by this invention are the result of saturation mutagenesis in the regions of APP which are susceptible to cleavage by endoproteolytic enzymes. These mutations include deletions of nucleic acids encoding particular amino acids, substitution of nucleic acid sequences encoding one amino acid for a different amino acid and addition of nucleic acid sequences encoding additional amino acids not present in the wild type APP sequence. The term "marker" encompasses any substance capable of being detected or allowing the nucleic acid or polypeptide of this invention to be detected. Examples of markers are detectable proteins, such as enzymes or enzyme substrates and epitopes not naturally occurring in wild-type APP that are capable of forming a complex with an antibody, e,g. a polyclonal or monoclonal antibody. In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the marker is an epitope that is capable of being detected by a commercially available antibody. In one embodiment, the marker is an epitope capable of being detected by a monoclonal antibody directed to the Substance P, the Met-enkephalin or the c-myc epitope. In the most preferred embodiment of this invention, the marker is Substance P.

The term "BAP region" is defined as the region of APP wherein endoproteolytic cleavage will yield the amino-terminus and the carboxy-terminus of the BAP which is deposited as plaques and cerebrovascular amyloid in Alzheimer's disease brain. The function of the "BAP region" is to give rise to BAP which may function as a neurotoxic and/or neurotrophic agent in the brain and as other functionalities ascribed to BAP. The "BAP region" may also be endoproteolytically cleaved by enzymes. Such enzymes may include, but are not limited to, multicatalytic proteinase, propyl-endopeptidase, Cathepsin-B, Cathepsin-D, Cathepsin-L, Cathepsin-G, secretase and the like. Secretase cleaves between lysine-16 (K-16) and leucine-17 (L-17) where full-length BAP comprises the amino acid sequence DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQKLVFFAEDVGSNKGAIIGLMVGGVVIA, which corresponds to Sequence I.D. No. 19. Desirably, the nucleic acid molecule is a cDNA which encodes an RNA translated into a protein which is the substrate for endoproteolytic activities which generate BAP.

As a preferred embodiment, the deletion constructs are the APP-REP molecules having a deletion of about 276 amino acid residues from the ectodomain. The deletion of the 276 aa portion of APP distinguishes the construct of the present invention from endogenously expressed APP on the basis of size, and beneficially increases the resolution of APP-REP fragments resulting from the proteolytic cleavage by secretase or other amyloidogenic, BAP-generating cleavage events. Proteolytic cleavage of the APP-REP target substrate is determined by the electrophoretic sizing of resulting proteolytic fragments and immunological detection of APP-specific and reporter epitopes. Deletion of the large central portion of APP sequence enhances the resolution of detecting proteolytic cleavage at different positions within the APP-REP substrate protein through working with shorter, effective target substrates. Approximate location of cleavage is determined initially by fragment sizing and epitope mapping. The exact cleavage site is later determined by peptide mapping of affinity/HPLC purified fragments and sequencing of peptide ends. The APP-REP strategy described herein is an ideal model system for the expression of marked APP proteins in tissue culture cells where characterizing the proteolytic cleavage events becomes essential. Advantageously, the reporter epitope and the size of the release fragment eliminate the ambiguity which is typically encountered in the use of the endogenous or wild-type APP. The release of the PN-II fragment from endogenous APP creates substantial difficulty in correlating the fragment with the particular isoform. In the practice of the present invention, one would be able to easily determine the identity of the reporter molecule undergoing cleavage, i.e., the shorter, easily distinguishable APP-REP protein.

Surprisingly, the APP-REP protein fragment is a good representation of the naturally occurring APP with respect to post-translational synthesis, processing and stability in the tissue culture system of the present invention. Equally beneficial, markers such as Substance P and Met-enkephalin marker epitopes strategically placed on either side of BAP readily enable the immunological detection of the amino- and the carboxy-terminal fragments, respectively, which result from the proteolytic cleavage of the APP-REP substrate.

When used in conjunction with the APP-REP fragments of the present invention, the term "full-length" refers to the intact molecule where the protein product has not yet been cleaved or processed by enzymes. The full-length APP-REP constructs should be contrasted with the wild-type APP in that there are about 276 amino acid residues deleted from the wild-type sequence. For instance, the sequence for the APP-REP 770 construct consists of about 494 amino acid residues, instead of 770. Similarly, APP-REP 751 contains about 475 amino acid residues and APP-REP 695 contains about 419 amino acid residues. To be useful in the tissue culture system, the construct requires the attachment of an additional sequence which encodes at least one marker. As herein described, the plasmid pCLL602 which is based on the APP 751 isoform contains, for example, a total of 492 amino acids due to the addition of two markers, Substance P (+12 aa) and Met-enkephalin (+5 aa) (see FIG. 1). The plasmid pCLL621 which eliminates the use of the Met-enkephalin marker has a total of 487 amino acids. It should be appreciated that the plasmids pCLL602 and pCLL621 are interchangeable in the methods disclosed herein dependent upon the necessity for the Met-enkephalin marker.

Also provided by this invention is a fragment which further includes an alanine substitution at a potential phosphorylation site within the cytoplasmic domain of the amyloid precursor protein. The amyloid precursor mutein may include, but is not limited to, the group consisting of pCLL614, pCLL615, pCLL616, pCLL626, pCLL627, pCLL628; pCLL629, pCLL630 and pCLL631. The mutants can contain the alanine substitution at any one of eight potential sites of phosphorylation or a combination thereof. For example, the tyrosine in the codon positions 709 (pCLL626), 738 (pCLL627) and 743 (pCLL629) of the APP-REP derivative, based on the structure of APP 751, may be changed to alanine. Other alanine substitutions may include threonine in positions 710 (pCLL614), 724 (pCLL630) and 742 (pCLL628) as well as serine in positions 711 (pCLL615) and 731 (pCLL631). Mutants of any combination may also be prepared such as, for example, a double mutant in positions 710 (threonine) and 711 (serine) (pCLL616). It should be readily appreciated that these potential phosphorylation sites are dependent upon the particular sequence of the isoform and whether the site is accessible to substitution.

In addition, for the purposes of this invention, the nucleic acid molecule may be DNA, cDNA or RNA. However, in the most preferred embodiment of this invention, the nucleic acid is a cDNA molecule.

This invention also encompasses each of the nucleic acid molecules described hereinabove inserted into a vector so that the nucleic acid molecule may be expressed, i.e., transcribed (when the molecule is DNA) and translated into a polypeptide in both procaryotic and eucaryotic expression systems. Suitable expression vectors useful for the practice of this invention include pSVL (Pharmacia), pRCRSV (Invitrogen), pBluescript SK⁺ (Stratagene), pSL301 (Invitrogen), pUC19 (New England Biolabs). However, in the preferred embodiment of this invention, the vector pcDNA-1-neo is the expression vector for expression in eucaryotic cells. As is well known to those of skill in the art, the nucleic acid molecules of this invention may be operatively linked to a promoter of RNA transcription, as well as other regulatory sequences. As used herein, the term "operatively linked" means positioned in such a manner that the promoter will direct the transcription of RNA off of the nucleic acid molecule. An example of a promoter is the human cytomegalovirus promoter. The vectors of this invention preferably are capable of transcribing and/or translating nucleic acid in vitro or in vivo. The recombinant polypeptides produced from the expression of the nucleic acid molecules of this invention are also provided.

A host vector system for the production of the recombinant polypeptides described hereinabove and for expressing the nucleic acid molecules of the subject invention are provided. The host vector system comprises one of the vectors described hereinabove in a suitable host. For the purpose of the invention, a suitable host may include, but is not limited to a eucaryotic cell, e.g., a mammalian cell, a yeast cell or an insect cell for baculovirus expression. Suitable mammalian cells may comprise, but are not limited to Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO cells; ATCC CRL 1793), African green monkey kidney COS-1 cells (ATCC CRL 1650) and human glioblastoma/astrocytoma cells (HTB14 ). Each of these are available from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), 12301 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, Md. 20852, U.S.A. Suitable procaryotic cells may include, but are not limited to, bacteria cells, HB101 (Invitrogen), MC1061/P3 (Invitrogen), CJ236 (Invitrogen) and JM109 (Invitrogen). Accordingly, the procaryotic or eucaryotic cell comprising the vector system of this invention is further provided by this invention.

As is known to those of skill in the art, recombinant DNA technology involves insertion of specific DNA sequences into a DNA vehicle (vector) to form a recombinant DNA molecule which is capable of being replicated in a host cell. Generally, but not necessarily, the inserted DNA sequence is foreign to the recipient DNA vehicle, i.e., the inserted DNA sequence and DNA vector are derived from organisms which do not exchange genetic information in nature, or the inserted DNA sequence comprises information which may be wholly or partially artificial. Several general methods have been developed which enable construction of recombinant DNA molecules. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,224 to Cohen and Boyer describes production of such recombinant plasmids using processes of cleavage of DNA with restriction enzymes and joining the DNA pieces by known method of ligation.

These recombinant plasmids are then introduced by means of transformation or transfection and replicated in unicellular cultures including procaryotic organisms and eucaryotic organisms and eucaryotic cells grown in tissue culture. Because of the general applicability of the techniques described therein, U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,224 is hereby incorporated by reference into the present specification. Another method for introducing recombinant DNA molecules into unicellular organisms is described by Collins and Hohn in U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,863 which is also incorporated herein by reference. This method utilized a packaging, transduction system with bacteriophage vectors (cosmids).

Nucleic acid sequences may also be inserted into viruses, for example, a vaccinia virus or a baculovirus. Such recombinant, viruses may be generate, for example, by transfection of plasmids into cells infected with virus, Chakrabarti et al., (1985) Mol. Cell Biol. 5:3402-3409.

Regardless of the method used for construction, the recombinant DNA molecule is preferably compatible with the host cell, i.e., capable of being replicated in the host cell either as part of the host chromosomes or as an extrachromosomal element. The recombinant DNA molecule or recombinant virus preferable has a marker function which allows the selection of the desired recombinant DNA molecule(s) or virus, e.g., baculovirus. In addition, if all of the proper replication, transcription and translation signals are correctly arranged on the recombinant DNA molecule, the foreign gene will be properly expressed in the transformed or transfected host cells.

Different genetic signals and processing events control gene expression at different levels. For instance, DNA transcription is one level, and messenger RNA (mRNA) translation is another. Transcription of DNA is dependent upon the presence of a promoter which is a DNA sequence that directs the binding of RNA polymerase and thereby promotes RNA synthesis. The DNA sequences of eucaryotic promoter differ from those of procaryotic promoters. Furthermore, eucaryotic promoters and accompanying genetic signals may not be recognized in or may not function in a procaryotic system.

Similarly, translation of mRNA in procaryotes depends upon the presence of the proper procaryotic signals which differ from those of eucaryotes. Efficient translation of mRNA in procaryotes requires a ribosome binding site called the Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence on the mRNA. For a review on maximizing gene expression, see Roberts and Lauer (1979) Methods in Enzymology 68:473.

Many other factors complicate the expression of foreign genes in procaryotes even after the proper signals are inserted and appropriately positioned. One such factor is the presence of an active proteolytic system in E. coli and other bacteria. This protein-degrading system appears to destroy foreign proteins selectively. A tremendous utility, therefore, would be afforded by the development of a means to protect eucaryotic proteins expressed in bacteria from proteolytic degradation. One strategy is to construct hybrid genes in which the foreign sequence is ligated in phase (i.e., in the correct reading frame) with a procaryotic structural gene.

Expression of this hybrid gene results in a recombinant protein product (a protein that is a hybrid of procaryotic and foreign amino acid sequences).

Successful expression of a cloned gene requires efficient transcription of DNA, translation of the mRNA and in some instances post-translation modification of the protein. Expression vectors have been developed to increase protein production from the cloned gene. In expression vectors, the cloned gene is often placed next to a strong promoter which is controllable so that transcription can be turned on when necessary. Cells can be grown to a high density and then the promoter can be induced to increase the number of transcripts. These, if efficiency translated, will result in high yields of polypeptide. This is an especially valuable system if the foreign protein is deleterious to the host cell.

Several recombinant DNA expression systems are described below in the Experimental Procedures section for the purpose of illustration only, and these examples should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention.

A method for producing a recombinant polypeptide described hereinabove, is also provided. This method comprises growing the host cell containing the nucleic acid of this invention and/or the host vector system of this invention under suitable conditions, permitting production of the polypeptide and recovering the resulting recombinant polypeptide produced.

A method of detecting in a sample the presence of any of the recombinant polypeptides described hereinabove is further provided by this invention. In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the marker is an epitope directed against an antibody, the epitope of which is not present in the wild-type polypeptide or APP derivative. This method comprises obtaining a sample suspected of containing the polypeptide and contacting the sample with an antibody directed to the marker. The contacting is done under suitable conditions to favor the formation of an antibody-epitope (i.e., antigen) complex, and detecting the presence of any complex so formed. The presence of complex being a positive indication that the recombinant polypeptide is in the sample. In one embodiment of this invention, the antibody is a mouse antibody. In another embodiment of this invention, the antibody is a rabbit antibody. In the most preferred embodiment, the mouse or rabbit antibody is either a monoclonal or polyclonal antibody.

The antibody is labeled with a detectable marker selected from the group consisting of radioisotopes, dyes, enzymes and biotin. For the purposes of this invention, suitable radioisotopes include, but are not limited to, ³² P, ³⁵ S, ³ H, ¹³¹ I and ¹²⁵ I.

Suitable samples for the practice of this invention include, but are not limited to, conditioned media, cell lysates and cellular organelle fractions.

The method of this invention may utilize the recombinant polypeptide for the detection of drugs or compounds that inhibit or augment the activity of proteolytic enzymes which cleave APP to generate BAP fragments. For the purposes of example only, a recombinant polypeptide which contains a Substance-P marker epitope on the amino-terminal side of BAP and a Met-enkephalin marker epitope on the carboxy-terminal side of BAP. Using commercially available RIA kits (Peninsula), one can measure the amount of amino-marker and carboxy-marker in any given sample. Since endoproteolytic activity is shown (see FIG. 3) to allow the release of amino-terminal fragments of APP containing the amino-marker into the conditioned media while carboxy-terminal APP fragments containing the carboxy-marker remain associated with the cell, then RIA which measure the amount of amino-marker in the conditioned medium as a direct result of endoproteolytic cleavage activity between the marker epitopes preferable within the "BAP region". Using this RIA to the amino-marker, the effect of potential drugs designed to modify endoprotease activity can be tested comparing the level of amino-marker in untreated and endoprotease-inhibitor treated samples. If a difference in non-treated and treated samples is found, then the position of the cleavage or lack of cleavage can be verified as with the procedures used in FIGS. 3 to 6. Thus, the qualitative and quantitative aspects of endoproteolytic activity and its inhibition on the recombinant APP mutein is evaluated. The amino-marker may also be an enzyme such as alkaline phosphatase or β-galactosidase which would be released into the conditioned media by the action of a suitable endoprotease. Cell free samples of conditioned media containing the liberated enzyme converts a chromogenic substrate into the appropriately colored product (blue for X-Gal and yellow for ONPG) which is subsequently measured spectrophotometrically. Inhibitors of the appropriate endoprotease would suppress the release of the β-galactosidase enzyme into the conditioned medium resulting in a less colored product being observed.

Overview of the APP-REP Strategy

To study secterase and BAP-generating pathways, portions of APP cDNA clones are used to engineer a panel of APP-REPorter (APP-REP) plasmids to express "marked" proteins representing each of the APP isoforms (and other APP/BAP sequence alterations; see below) in cultured cells. The system utilizes the marker Substance-P (SP) and Met-Enkephalin (ME) which are strategically placed, respectively, on amino- and carboxy-terminal sides of BAP. Proteolytic cleavage of APP-REP target substrate is determined by the electrophoretic sizing of resulting proteolytic fragments and immunological detection of APP-specific and SP and ME reporter epitopes. Deletion of a large central portion of APP sequence also makes APP-REP readily distinguishable from the endogenous APP isoforms based on size. Moreover, the resolution of detecting proteolytic cleavage at different positions within the APP-REP substrate protein is enhanced by working with shorter target substrates. Approximate location of cleavage is determined initially by fragment sizing and epitope mapping; the exact cleavage site is later determined by peptide mapping of affinity/HPLC purified fragments and sequencing of peptide ends.

Plasmids also are derived from these constructs for developing similar strategies to express APP-REP protein in cell free reticulocyte transcription-translation and bacterial systems. Mutation of APP-REP secretase/BAPase cleavage site (by sequence substitution, deletion or FAD mutations) can reveal putative proteolytic activities associated with BAP formation including amino- and carboxy-BAPase activities which are predicted to result in altered product fragments lengths.

The plasmids, DNA sequences and microorganisms deposited in connection with the present patent application, except where specified to the contrary, are deposited in American Cyanamid Company's culture collection maintained at Lederle Laboratories in Pearl River, N.Y. and are deposited pursuant to the Budapest Treaty with the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), 12301 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, Md. 20852, U.S.A.

Generally, the plasmids of the present invention are derived from pCLL602 and pCLL621. The E. coli bacterial strains which have been deposited in the ATCC on Aug. 27, 1993 include the strains carrying the expression vectors and reporter plasmids pCLL602 (ATCC 69405) and pCLL621 (ATCC 69406).

The plasmid pCLL602 consists of a full-length APP-REP 751 (XbaI-SalI fragment) containing the MET-enkephalin reporter epitope at the C-terminus of APP which is subcloned into eucaryotic expression vector. APP-REP 751 (pCLL602 ) is constructed by ligating restriction fragments representing N- and C-terminal sequences of APP-751 cDNA and Substance P reporter epitope sequences (Sahasrabudhe et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267:25602-25608, 1992). Essentially, an EcoRI-XhoI fragment encoding N-terminal APP-751 sequences is ligated to a short synthetic XhoI-HindIII fragment encoding Substance P (aa 1-11). The larger EcoRI-HindIII product is then ligated to a PCR amplified HindIII-SalI fragment representing C-terminal APP sequences (a portion of APP ectodomain, BAP, transmembrance and cytoplasmic APP sequences). The full-length APP-REP 751 (pCLL602 ) fragment is then subcloned into the SV40-based, CMV promoter driven, eucaryotic expression vector pcDNA-1-neo (pCLL601).

The plasmid pCLL621 consists of a full-length APP-REP 751 which is derived from plasmid pCLL602 with the elimination of the C-terminal MET-enkephalin reporter epitope. By site-directed directed mutagenesis, a stop codon is introduced immediately following the C-terminus of endogenous APP sequences.

Other plasmids of the present invention may be constructed using site-directed mutagenesis and the techniques described herein. As one example, for the plasmid pCLL935 (see Table I), N-terminal cassettes provide the APP-751 isoform (EcoRI-XhoI fragment) plus 11 aa of Substance P epitope marker (synthetic XhoI-HindIII fragment) in a pSK(+) vector. As another example, for the plasmid pCLL947 (see Table I), C-terminal cassettes provide BAP containing wild-type or mutated sequences and the cytoplasmic domain of APP including the MET-enkephalin reporter epitope (EcoRI-BamHI fragment) in a pSL301 vector. As a third example, full-length APP-REP is constructed in the bacterial cloning vector pSK(+) to form the plasmid pCLL964 (see Table II).

For the construction of the alanine substitution mutations, the alanine substitution mutations are introduced into APP-REP 751 (pCLL621) by site-directed mutagenesis. Briefly, single-stranded phagemid pCLL621 DNA is prepared in CJ236/p3 by infection with helper phage M13K07 and used as template on which oligonucleotide primers encoding APP sequences with the desired alanine mutations are annealed and elongated. The alanine substitutions may be engineered at any one of the eight sites of phosphorylation or a combination thereof (see FIGS. 9A and 9B). Examples of alanine substitutions would include, but are not limited to, tyrosine at positions 709 (pCLL626), 738 (pCLL627) and 743 (pCLL629); threonine at positions 710 (pCLL614), 724 (pCLL630) and 742 (pCLL628); serine at positions 711 (pCLL615) and 731 (pCLL631); and combinations thereof (e.g., a double mutant in positions 710 (threonine) and 711 (serine) (pCLL616)).

Bacterial Strains and Transformation

Transformation of commercially available frozen competent bacteria, maintenance and selection of transformants is according to the manufacturer. Strains HB101, DH5a or JM109 (Gibco-BRL) are used for the construction of APP-REP in pSK(+) (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.) and pSL 301 (Invitrogen, San Diego, Calif.). APP-REP is subsequently subcloned into the eucaryotic expression vector pcDNA-1-neo and amplified in MC1061/P3 (Invitrogen, San Diego, Calif.).

Plasmid Construction

A cassette approach is used to independently construct portions of the APP-REP plasmid (FIG. 2). The N-terminal partial includes APP sequences through the Substance P (SP) epitope, while the carboxy-terminal (C-terminal) partial includes BAP (or sequence variations of BAP) through the Met-enkephalin (ME) epitope (FIG. 1). Plasmid encoding the N-terminal cassette (pCLL935) is constructed by ligating the EcoRI-XhoI fragment derived from APP-751 cDNA to a short synthetic XhoI-HindIII fragment encoding Substance P (amino acids 1-11). This product is then ligated into the EcoRI and HindIII sites of pSK(+). Plasmid encoding the carboxy-terminal (C-terminal) cassette (pCLL947) is constructed by cloning into the HindIII-BamHI sites of pSL301 a fragment containing BAP sequences which is amplified by polymerase chain reaction. The fragment features a novel 5'-HindIII site beginning at lysine 638 of APP-751, native BAP through APP C-terminal sequences, and a C-terminal fusion including the Met-enkephalin epitope followed by a stop translation codon and a BamHI site. The resulting pSL301 HindIII-SalI fragment (including the HindIII-BamHI coding region plus BamHI-SalI polylinker sequences) is then isolated and ligated to the N-terminal cassette by subcloning into the HindIII-SalI sites of the SK(+)-based, CMV promoter driven, eucaryotic expression vector pcDNA-1-neo (pCLL601), whose polylinker is modified to accommodate the APP-REP fragment (pCLL602 ). Polylinker modification involves the substitution of the HindIII-Xbal fragment with a synthetic one which restores HindIII, destroys XbaI and introduces novel BamHI-XabI-Xho-SalI sites.

Tissue Culture Lines

All cells are obtained from American Type Culture Collection and maintained according to their recommendation. They include SV40-transformed African Green monkey kidney COS-1 cells (CRL 1650) for transient expression and Chinese hamster ovary CHO-1C6 (CRL 1973) for stable expression systems. Also included are human embryonic kidney cells (CRL 1573).

Transfection Procedure

Cells are seeded at a density of 2-3×10⁶ /100 mm dish and transfected using Lipofectin (Gibco-BRL, Grand Island, N.Y.) when ˜75% confluent. Plasmid DNA (0.5-4 mg) is diluted in 450 mL of Opti-MEM (Gibco-BRL, Grand Island, N.Y.) and mixed with 450 mL containing 75-100 mL Lipofectin. The mixture is incubated at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. Addition of DNA-Lipofectin mixture to cells, recovery phase and G418 selection (Gibco-BRL), when applicable, are according to the manufacturer's protocol. Cells and conditioned medium are harvested at 48-72 hours following transfection for assay of APP-REP expression.

Antisera

APP-specific antisera: anti-N-terminal APP, mouse monoclonal 22C11 (Boehringer-Mannheim Biochemicals, Indianapolis, Ind.) raised against a recombinant fusion protein expressing APP-695 (epitope mapped to aa 60-100); anti-KPI rabbit polyclonal, raised against recombinant protein encoded by the HinfI fragment derived from APP-770; and anti-APP C-terminal rabbit polyclonal M3, raised against synthetic APP peptides corresponding to APP-770 amino acid residues 649-671 (kindly provided by Dr. David Miller, New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, N.Y.). BAP-specific antisera: anti-mouse IgG₁ -agarose (Sigma) for the precipitation of monoclonal 6E10 antibody, raised against synthetic BAP₁₋₂₄ (obtained from Drs. K. S. Kim and H. M. Wisniewski, New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, N.Y.). Reporter-specific antisera: anti-substance P, rabbit polyclonal, available from Peninsula, Belmont, Calif.; and anti-Met-enkephalin, rabbit polyclonal, available from Cambridge, Wilmington, Del.

Preparation of Radiolabeled APP-REP and Extraction from Conditioned Medium and Cell Lysates

APP-REP proteins transiently expressed in exponentially growing adherent cells (˜4×10⁶) are radiolabeled by metabolic incorporation of [³⁵ S]-methionine as follows. Cell monolayers are washed twice with prelabeling medium (methionine-free D-MEM supplemented with glutamine, sodium pyruvate, antibiotics and 1% dialyzed fetal bovine serum (Gibco-BRL)) and incubated for 15 minutes to 4 hours in prelabeling medium containing 150-450 uCi [³⁵ S]-methionine (Amersham, 800 Ci/mmol). If chased with cold methionine, the medium is removed following the pulse, the monolayer is washed with prelabeling medium and replaced with 3 mL of the same containing 1 mM cold methionine.

The conditioned medium is recovered following radiolabeling by aspiration from plates and cell debris is removed by centrifugation for 10 minutes at 4° C. (˜300× g). The conditioned medium is immediately supplemented with protease inhibitors (pepstatin A, 50 μg/mL; leupeptin, 50 μg/mL; aprotinin, 10 μg/mL; EDTA, 5 mM; PMSF, 0.25 mM) and either stored frozen at -20° C. or treated with immunoprecipitation buffer (IPB) for protein analysis (Sisodia et al., 1990). Briefly, 3 mL of CM is supplemented with 0.75 mL 5× IPB (250 mM Tris, pH 6.8; 750 mM NaCl; 25 mM EDTA; 2.5% Nonidet P40; 2.5% sodium deoxycholate; above-described protease inhibitors) and incubated for 20 minutes at 4° C. prior to use.

Lysates are prepared by washing the labeled cell monolayer twice with 5 mL pre-labeling medium and directly extracting cells in plates at 4° C. with 3.75 mL 1× IPB (including protease inhibitors). Cells are scraped into the buffer, incubated for 20 minutes at 4° C. and lysates clarified of cellular debris by centrifugation for 20 minutes at 10,000× g.

For radioiodination of cell surface proteins, monolayers are chilled on ice, washed 3 times with 5 mL ice cold PBS and then labeled at room temperature for 10 minutes following the addition of: 5 mL PBS containing 0.2 mCi Iodine¹²⁵ (NEZ-033A, New England Nuclear), 0.25 mL lactoperoxidase (1 mg/mL distilled water, Sigma), 10 mL of hydrogen peroxide solution (freshly prepared by diluting 10 mL of 30% stock in 10 mL of PBS) added at 0, 3, 6 and 9 minutes of iodination. At 10 minutes, the supernatant is removed and cells gently washed with 10 mL of ice cold PBS (containing 10 mM NaI). Four mL of PBS is added, and CM and cell lysates are prepared as above.

Immunoprecipitation Analysis

Aliquots of radiolabeled lysate or conditioned medium representing 4-8×10⁵ cells are thawed on ice, supplemented with protease inhibitors (see above), boiled for 3 minutes in 0.35% SDS and chilled on ice. Samples are preincubated on a shaker for 1.5 hours at 4° C. with 2-10 mL 2× of preimmune (or normal rabbit) serum and 2 mg Protein A-Sepharose (Sigma; prepared in 1× IPB), and insoluble immune complexes removed by centrifugation. APP- or reporter epitope-specific antisera (0.1-10 μl) and 2 mg Protein A-Sepharose are similarly added and incubated overnight. Specific immune complexes are precipitated, washed 4 times with 0.25 mL 1× IPB (with protease inhibitors), extracted with 20 μl 2× SLP (Laemmli sample buffer; Laemmli, Nature 227:680-685, 1970), boiled for 3 minutes and fractionated by electrophoresis on SDS-polyacrylamide-tris-glycine (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Richmond, Va.) or SDS-polyacrylamide-tris-tricine Daiichi (Integrated Separation Systems, Natick, Mass.) gels. Gels are then treated with Enlightning Autoradiographic Enhancer (New England Nuclear, NEF-974) and dried in vacuo with heat and exposed to Kodak X-AR film overnight at -70° C.

Western (Immunoblot) Analysis

Lysate or 10× concentrated conditioned medium (Centricon 30 microconcentrator; Amicon, Beverly, Mass.) representing 4-8×10⁵ cells are supplemented with an equal volume of 2× Laemmli sample buffer, boiled for 2 minutes, fractionated as above and transblotted (Semi-Phor, Hoefer Scientific Instruments, San Francisco, Calif.) to Immobilon-P membrane (Millipore, Bedford, Mass.). Membranes are pre-blocked in 10 mL 5% non-fat dry milk/PBST (PBS with 0.02% Tween 20) for 45 minutes at room temperature prior to overnight incubation at 4° C. with primary antisera (in fresh pre-blocking solution). Blots are then washed, incubated with secondary antibody, washed and developed for horseradish peroxidase activity by conventional methods (ECL Luminol Kit; Amersham, Arlington Heights, Ill.).

Peptide Mapping and Determination of the Site of Proteolytic Cleavage by Peptide Sequencing

The secretase clip site is determined essentially as described by Wang et al., J. Biol. Chem. 266:16960-16964, 1991. Approximately 1×10⁶ CHO cells stably expressing APP-REP are seeded in each 150 mm dish containing DMEM (complete with 200 μg/mL G418) and incubated for 36 hours. Cells are washed, preincubated for 6 hours in serum-free medium (MCDB 302) supplemented with antibiotics, L-glutamine (292 mg/L) and proline (12 mg/L) (Sigma) to remove serum components, washed, and incubated for another 72 hours in fresh serum-free media.

Serum-free conditioned medium is pooled and cell debris is removed by centrifugation (10 minutes at 300× g, then 30 minutes at 100,000× g) and concentrated by acetone precipitation and fractionated by HPLC. CM concentrate is loaded onto an anion exchange column (Mono Q) and protein is eluted in 20 mM Tris (pH 7.4) over a 0 to 1M NaCl gradient. Fractions containing secreted APP are identified by immunoblotting (monoclonal antibody 22C11) and relevant samples pooled, desalted (NP-5 column; Pharmacia, Piscataway, N.J.) and concentrated. Proteins are then denatured and treated with cyanogen bromide (in 10% trifluoroacetic acid). Peptides are separated by high performance liquid chromatography (Vydac C₁₈ reverse-phase) attached to a FAB-MS unit. Relevant peaks derived from APP-REP 751 and APP-REP BAP.sub.Δ11-28 are identified by locating those peaks uncommon to both proteins. The C-terminal peptides derived from APP-REP BAP.sub.Δ11-28 (predicted 14 aa) and APP-REP 751 (predicted 17 aa) are then sequenced (MilliGen solid phase peptide sequencer; Millipore, Burlington, Mass.).

Characterization of APP-REP Expression by Epitope Mapping

The APP-REP strategy (FIG. 1) is a model system for the expression of marked APP proteins in tissue culture cells which is useful in characterizing proteolytic cleavage events. APP-REP protein transiently expressed in COS-1 cells is radiolabeled by metabolic incorporation of [³⁵ S]-methionine in a 60 minute pulse, immunoprecipitated with antisera and size fractionated by gel electrophoresis, as demonstrated in FIG. 3. Immunoprecipitation with a panel of APP- and APP-REP-specific antisera which recognize epitopes mapping at various positions along APP-REP, reveals the presence of 2 proteins of ˜63 and ˜76 kDa in cell lysates (including cytoplasmic and membrane associated proteins) as shown in FIG. 3. The specific detection by antisera directed against the KPI domain, the carboxy-terminus of APP (M3, FIG. 3A) and Met-enkephalin as well as by the N-terminal 22C11 monoclonal in Western blot analysis suggest that both bands represent the full-length APP-REP protein. Although the 492 amino acid APP-REP is predicted to display a mobility of ˜49-54 kDa, the larger 63 and 76 kDa proteins are observed, attributing the aberrant migration properties of APP, putatively to post-translational modification like tyrosine-sulfation, glycosylation and phosphorylation (Dyrks et al., EMBO J. 7:949-957, 1988; Weidemann et al., Cell 57:115-126, 1989).

Analysis of the conditioned medium (CM) collected from those same cells above indicates that an N-terminal fragment of APP-REP is released into the CM. FIG. 3B reveals a shorter ˜67 kDa fragment immunoprecipitable from CM with KPI and SP antisera (and the 22C11 monoclonal by Western analysis), but not with several C-terminal APP or ME antisera. These data are consistent with the observations (Selkoe et al., PNAS 86:6338-6342, 1988; Palmert et al., PNAS USA 85:7341-7345, 1989) indicating that APP is a substrate for the proteolytic cleavage resulting in the secretion of an N-terminal fragment into CM and a short membrane associated C-terminal fragment.

Pulse-Chase Analysis Reveals the Precursor/Product Relationship between Cell Associated and Secreted Derivatives of APP-REP

To show that APP-REP undergoes post-translational modification accounting for the 2 cell associated proteins, and that the N-terminal APP-REP fragment released into CM is derived from one of these precursors, APP-REP is radiolabeled with a short 15 minute pulse and both cell lysates and CM are collected at various chase intervals as shown in FIG. 4. Immunoprecipitation analysis reveals that APP-REP initially migrates at ˜63 kDa and is rapidly "chased" up to ˜75 kDa with conversion rate of less than 10-15 minutes (FIG. 4A; also see FIG. 5C for quantitative analysis), an observation which is consistent with the notion that APP-REP, like APP, is a substrate for post-translational modifications.

The ˜76 kDa APP-REP band (cell lysate) rapidly disappears (t_(1/2) ˜20 minutes) (FIGS. 4A and 5C), followed by the appearance of a shorter ˜67 kDa band in the CM (FIGS. 4B and 5C). The released ˜67 kDa fragment accumulates rapidly and is relatively long lived (t_(1/2) >8 hours). The temporal pattern of intracellular APP-REP depletion, accumulation of a shorter ˜67 kDa protein in CM, and the recognition of this protein only by antisera raised against N-terminal epitopes, is consistent with proteolytic cleavage of APP-REP which is similar to the normal, non-amyloidogenic, "secretase" activity which results in the release of an N-terminal APP fragment (Sisodia et al., Science 248:492-495, 1990).

Expression of APP-REP Derivatives Containing Altered BAP Sequences Does Not Prevent Proteolytic Cleavage

In an attempt to engineer non-cleavable substrates for secretase, APP-REP proteins (FIG. 5A) are expressed either lacking the secretase "cleavage/recognition site" putatively encompassed by aa residues BAP 11-28 (BAP.sub.Δ11-28, pCLL604), or representing the BAP point mutation found in patients with HCHWA-D (BAP_(E22Q), pCLL603). The construct representing the BAP_(E22Q) mutation results in secretion of an N-terminal fragment indistinguishable from the APP-REP protein (FIG. 5C). Deletion of extracellular, juxtamembranous 18 aa (BAP.sub.Δ11-28) still results, however, in the secretion of an N-terminal APP-REP fragment into the CM (FIG. 5B). A slightly faster migration of fragment derived from the deletion construct pCLL604 in comparison to that of wild-type pCLL602, is consistent with the 18 aa deletion and a corresponding loss of ˜2 kDa (FIG. 5C). Pulse-chase analyses (FIG. 5D) indicate that expression of full-length precursor by each construct, proteolytic cleavage and the release of fragment into CM are both qualitatively and quantitatively similar to that of the wild-type APP-REP sequence. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells stably expressing APP-REP display results similar to that of transiently expressing COS-1 cells (FIG. 5E). Collectively, these data suggest that the cleavage in each case may be the result of similar biochemical events despite the difference in juxtamembranous sequences (FIG. 5A).

Full-Length APP-REP Proteins Are Associated with Plasma Membrane Prior to Cleavage

In preliminary experiments, detection of the amino-terminal APP-REP fragment in CM and not in cell lysates, suggests that the putative secretase activity may be plasma membrane-associated. One prediction of this notion is that an N-terminal portion of APP-REP may be (partially) localized to the extracellular environment prior to cleavage. In order to test this hypothesis, CHO cells stably expressing APP-REP (pCLL602 ) are subjected to lactoperoxidase-catalyzed iodination to radiolabel only extracellular proteins associated with the cell surface. CM and cell lysates are analyzed immediately following iodination or after a 10 minute incubation. Presence of the ˜76 kDa APP-REP band in cell lysate indicates that at least a portion of full-length APP-REP is poised extracellularly in association with cell membrane. Detection of both, a reduced fraction of the ˜76 kDa band in the cell lysate and a corresponding increased fraction of ˜67 kDa fragment in CM following the "release" incubation suggest that the extracellular portion of APP-REP is cleaved.

Peptide Mapping to Determine the Site of Proteolysis

Fragment secreted into serum-free media derived from CHO cells stably expressing APP-REP with wild-type or BAP.sub.Δ11-28 sequences is analyzed to determine the actual site of proteolytic cleavage as shown in FIG. 6. Peptide mapping by tryptophan-specific cleavage with BNPS-skatole is used initially to roughly determine the approximate position of cleavage in each molecule. Western blot analysis using SP antisera following BNPS-skatole treatment (FIG. 6B) reveals fragments whose lengths of ˜10.5 and ˜9.5 kDa, corresponding to wild type and BAP.sub.Δ11-28, respectively, confirming that cleavage occurs in C-terminal portion of the PN-II-like protein (FIG. 6A). To determine the actual position of cleavage, the secreted fragment is partially purified and treated with cyanogen bromide, and the relevant C-terminal peptides derived from APP-REP wild type and BAP.sub.Δ11-28 are sequenced.

DISCUSSION

The expression of a truncated form of APP-751, namely APP-REP 751 (pCLL602 ) and its normal cleavage by secretase are described herein. A comparison of the nontransfected cells and those transfected with APP-REP 751, in both COS-1 transient and CHO stable expression systems, show the production of the shorter secreted protein derived from APP-REP. Furthermore, upon a prolonged exposure of the fluorogram only one band is observed in CM. Epitope mapping with antibodies to N- and C-terminal domains of APP-REP and amino acid sequencing suggest post-translational cleavage at a site similar to that reported for intact APP protein and other truncated APP constructs. Pulse-chase experiments reveal post-translational modifications, believed to be similar to those described for the intact APP protein in which a single ˜63 kDa product is chased up to ˜76 kDa in the first 30 minutes. Appearance of the ˜76 kDa cell membrane associated protein precedes the release of a ˜67 kDa product into the CM. The released form, which is not observed in the cell lysate fraction, steadily accumulates in the CM well after the ˜76 kDa band has begun to disappear suggesting a precursor-product relationship. These data indicate that the APP-REP protein is a good representation of the naturally occurring APP with regard to post-translational synthesis, processing, and stability in a tissue culture system.

Epitope mapping of APP-REP 751 mutants suggest that BAP_(E22Q), as well as the BAP.sub.Δ11-28 deletion constructs, are initially expressed as larger proteins of predicted lengths which subsequently are cleaved to release N-terminal fragments into the CM. The pulse-chase experiments indicate the cell-associated and secreted forms accumulate with similar kinetics.

APP is cleaved normally within the BAP sequence to release the non-amyloidogenic, amino-terminal PN-II fragment. Treatment of cells with an agent which activates protein kinase C (PK_(c)) (phorbol dibutyrate) is shown to increase the release of the amino-terminal fragment. A panel of mutant APP reporter constructs is herein expressed in which each of the potential phosphorylation sites located within the cytoplasmic domain of APP are replaced with alanine residues. Phorbol response patterns are unchanged suggesting that induced cleavage occurs independently of APP substrate phosphorylation. It is presently determined that phorbol (a) increases the release of PN-II fragment that is consistent with the normal secretase activity, (b) decreases the release of a shorter amino-terminal APP fragment cleaved near the amino-terminus of BAP, and (c) decreases the release of BAP. This is believed to be the first demonstration that any pharmacological treatment reduces the formation of BAP and indicates that PK_(c) activators may be developed as therapeutic agents to block BAP formation.

The major proteolytic cleavage of APP occurs within juxtamembranous ectodomain by secretase leading to the release (or secretion) of the N-terminal APP fragment (PN-II). This cleavage takes place within the BAP sequence and precludes the proteolytic generation of BAP from APP.

The APP holoprotein is phosphorylated and the phosphorylation may be involved in regulation of APP processing and the generation of BAP and amyloidogenic fragments.

Phosphorylation of APP-related peptides in vitro and analysis of APP following the activation of PK_(c) in permeabilized cells show that cytoplasmic APP residues threonine-710 and serine-711 are substrates for phosphorylation (FIG. 9B). Treatment of cells with phorbol dibutyrate (PDBu), an agent which activates PK_(c), increases the release of N-terminal APP fragment(s), increases the generation of C-terminal APP fragments and decreases the amount of mature, full-length APP forms.

To more fully characterize the phorbol (PDBu) response of increased APP proteolysis, the APP reporter (APP-REP 751) system as a useful tissue culture model for the expression and cleavage of APP molecules is employed (FIG. 9A). Human HTB14 (FIG. 10A) and 293 (FIG. 10B) cells stably expressing APP-REP are treated with PDBu and tested for the release of N-terminal APP fragments into conditioned medium (CM) by immunoprecipitation analysis. In both transfected cell lines, a 3-4 fold increase in the amount of APP-REP-derived ˜67 kDa PN-II fragment in the CM of PDBu-treated cells is observed (FIGS. 10A and 10B, compare lanes 5 to lanes 6). Analysis of corresponding cell-associated APP-REP in lysates indicates that PDBu treatment decreases the amount of full length APP-REP forms (FIGS. 10A and 10B, compare lanes 3 to lanes 2). A similar robust PDBu response is observed with the transient expression of APP-REP in COS-1 cells. In summary, PDBu increases the fraction of full-length substrate APP-REP molecules which are rapidly cleaved to release N-terminal fragment(s) into CM.

Control CM obtained from the transient expression of APP-REP is analyzed in COS-1 cells by immunoprecipitation with antibody to Substance P (SP; FIG. 9A) reporter in order to characterize the type of N-terminal APP fragments(s) released by treatment with PDBu. Ordinarily only ˜67 kDa band is visualized (FIG. 11A, lanes 2 and 3), but closer examination reveals the presence of a doublet band migrating at ˜65-67 kDa (FIG. 11A, lanes 4 and 5).

The APP-REP fragments released into the CM are then tested for the presence of the N-terminal portion of BAP (i.e., BAP aa residues 1-16; BAP₁₋₁₆) by differential immunoprecipitation with the monoclonal antibody 6E10 which specifically recognizes BAP₁₋₁₆ (FIG. 11B). Immunoprecipitation of CM from untreated control cells with 6E10 yields predominantly the upper component of the doublet (lane 4) as compared to precipitation with SP (lane 3). Immunodepletion of CM with 6E10 (lane 4) and subsequent immunoprecipitation with SP (lane 5) clearly reveals the lower, faster migrating ˜65 kDa band. In contrast, when cells are treated with PDBu and the CM is then immunoprecipitated with SP (lane 6) or 6E10 (lane 7), nearly equal amounts are precipitated. Furthermore, if CM immunodepleted with 6E10 (lane 7) is subsequently immunoprecipitated with SP (lane 8), the faster migrating ˜65 kDa band cannot be detected. This indicates the PDBu preferentially enhances the release of full-length PN-II.

To determine the effect of PDBu upon formation of BAP, a larger volume of CM from COS-1 cells transiently expressing APP-REP is analyzed for release of both PN-II fragment of BAP (FIG. 12). Immunoprecipitation of CM with 6E10 antibody reveals the presence of an ˜4.2 kDa fragment (lanes 1 and 3) which is found only in the CM of transfected cells, whereas an ˜3.5 kDa fragment is detected in CM of all cells (lanes 1-6). Failure to precipitate both the ˜4.2 and ˜3.5 kDa fragments following the addition of competing cold synthetic BAP₁₋₄₀ to CM indicates they both contain an epitope of BAP. Specificity of 6E10 antibody for BAP sequences and detection of an ˜4.2 kDa fragment only in CM of cells overproducing APP-REP provides supporting evidence that the ˜4.2 kDa peptide is BAP. Treatment of cells with PDBu greatly reduces the amount of ˜4.2 kDa BAP fragment without influencing the ˜3.5 kDa product (compare lanes 1 to 2 and 3 to 4). The presence of the BAP₁₋₁₆ epitope within the ˜3.5 kDa fragment suggests that it represents a novel peptide which is not identical to a 3 kDa fragment derived from the C-terminal APP fragment which remains cell-associated following cleavage by secretase. These data demonstrate the COS-1 cells overproducing APP normally release BAP into CM and treatment with PDBu causes a reduction in release of immunoprecipitable BAP.

If phosphorylation of APP is the event which alters processing, mutations introduced at critical sites to prevent phosphorylation may block the observed PDBu response. To construct such mutants, each of the 8 aa that are potential phosphorylation substrates located within the cytoplasmic domain of APP-REP is changed to create a panel of independent `phosphorylation-minus` derivatives (FIG. 9B) which are stably expressed in HTB14 cells. A `double` mutant (T710A/S711A, pCLL616) is also constructed and expressed. With one exception (see below), each mutant releases basal levels of PN-II similar to that of wild type APP-REP and all typically display the 3-4 fold increase in release of PN-II in response to PDBu (FIG. 13). Quantitation of cell-associated full-length forms indicates that each mutant construct responds similarly to treatment by PDBu. An identical pattern of PDBu response with wild type APP-REP and the mutant derivatives expressed stably in 293 or transiently in COS-1 cells is observed. The inability of `phosphorylation-minus` mutations to block PDBu responsiveness shows that APP substrate phosphorylation may not be a critical event in PDBu-stimulated release of PN-II.

Expression levels of cell-associated, full-length plasmid pCLL629 (Y743A, FIG. 9B) are similar to wild type APP-REP. However, the release of PN-II is about 3-4 fold more than untreated wild type APP-REP controls while addition of PDBu results in only a minimally enhanced release of PN-II (FIG. 13). Furthermore, this mutant displays increased formation of BAP by 3-4 fold (FIG. 12, compare lanes 1 and 3) which is decreased by PDBu treatment (FIG. 12, compare lanes 3 and 4). It is possible that elevated release of untreated Y743A mutant samples masks the PDBu response. Nevertheless, the data suggest that different mechanisms may account for the increase of PN-II release observed with PDBu treatment and the Y743 mutant since each of these manipulations has an opposite effect upon BAP release.

The substituted tyrosine of Y743A is located within a NPXY motif that may be a homolog to the cytoplasmic sequence on the LDL receptor which mediates internalization by coated pit formation and may be directly involved with a process which influences APP processing. It is likely that the APP cytoplasmic domain participates in multiple roles pertaining to APP trafficking and processing.

Cells expressing muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (m1 or m3 receptor subtypes) are observed as being capable of increasing the release of N-terminal APP fragment(s) in response to the cholinergic agonist carbachol (Buxbaum et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:10075, 1992; Nitsch et al., Science 258:304, 1992). Increased release is blocked either by the muscarinic antagonist atropine or the PK_(c) inhibitor staurosporine, but not by calcium ionophore A23187. Similarly, interleukin-1 (IL-1), a cytokine that may mediate APP expression via PK_(c) (Goldgaber et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:7606, 1989), activates a receptor-PK_(c) coupled increase in APP release. These observations indicate that direct or indirect receptor-mediated PK_(c) activation, or regulation of the targets of phosphorylation, in combination with the novel mutant APP-REP fragments in tissue culture systems described herein, may be uniquely employed for developing therapeutic interventions that prevent the formation of BAP.

In the tissue culture system of the present invention, both the release of PN-II (or an APP-REP equivalent) and BAP can be measured simultaneously. It is demonstrated that there is an inverse relationship between the release of both products following treatment with an activator of protein kinase C, namely, a phorbol ester. Since agonists of muscarinic receptors M1 and M3 lead to the activation of PK_(c), such agonists are of potential therapeutic interest for down-regulating the production of BAP. That one of the APP-REP mutants (pCLL629, Y743A) reveals the simultaneous up-regulatiom in release of both PN-II and BAP indicates the necessity to account for the production of both derivatives when screening for compounds which are aimed at modulating the processing of APP in a specific manner.

Advantageously, the decrease in release of BAP by PDBu demonstrates that BAP formation can be pharmacologically reduced and affords a drug discovery strategy for developing therapeutics using the tissue culture models of the present invention. The release of PN-II and BAP may be uniquely employed as markers for testing agents which regulate APP processing.

In accordance therewith, this invention provides a method for screening for compounds which reduce the formation of BAP which comprises measuring the amount of the marker(s) in the medium containing transfected cells stably or transiently expressing the mutants described herein, treating said cells with the sample compound, such as, for instance, a receptor-mediated or direct activator of PKc (e.g., agonists of muscarinic receptors M1 and M3), and testing the medium for an increase in the amount of the marker(s). To rule out false-positives, the medium containing agents which are able to increase the presence of the marker(s) are then further treated to assay for the reduction of BAP. For example, the treated cells can be contacted with an antibody directed to a portion of the BAP sequence under suitable conditions to favor the formation of an antibody-antigen complex, and the presence of any complex so formed can be detected by conventional techniques.

In the foregoing, there has been provided a detailed description of particular embodiments of the present invention for the purpose of illustration and not limitation. It is to be understood that all other modifications, ramifications and equivalents obvious to those having skill in the art based on this disclosure are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as claimed.

                  TABLE 1                                                          ______________________________________                                         Construction of APP-REP Partials                                               ______________________________________                                         A. pSK(+)  Amino-Terminal Constructs:                                          Cloning of APP Isoform and Reporter                                            Epitope (EcoRI-HindIII Fragments)                                              Plasmid  APP Isoform    Reporter Epitope                                       Name     (EcoRI-XhoI Fragment)                                                                         (XhoI-HindIII Fragment)                                ______________________________________                                         pCLL983  APP 695         Substance P*                                          pCLL935  APP 751        Substance P                                            pCLL934   APP 770**     Substance P                                            pCLL913   APP 770#      Substance P                                            ______________________________________                                         B. pSL301 Carboxy-Terminal Constructs: Cloning                                 of BAP-Encoding APP Reporter Epitope Fusions                                   (HindIII-BamHI/SalI Fragment)                                                  Plasmid  Met-Enkephalin (ME)                                                   Name     Fusion at end of:                                                                               Name of Variation                                    ______________________________________                                         pCLL947  Full-Length APP  APP-BAP-APP-ME                                       pCLL914  Transmembrane Domain                                                                            APP-BAP-TM-ME                                        pCLL937  BAP              APP-BAP-ME                                           ______________________________________                                         C. pSL301 Carboxy-Terminal Full-Length APP-ME                                  Constructs: Introduction of Mutations in BAP                                   (HindIII-BamHI/SalI Fragment)                                                  Plasmid  Met-Enkephalin                                                        Name     Fusion at End of:                                                                               Name of Variation                                    ______________________________________                                         pCLL949  E to Q substitution at                                                                          BAP.sub.E22Q                                                  BAP aa #22                                                            pCLL957  G to A substitution at                                                                          BAP.sub.Δ11-28                                          BAP aa #10, deletion of                                                        BAP aa #11-28 and                                                              creation of novel                                                              NdeI site                                                             ______________________________________                                          Notes:                                                                         *Substance P is a peptide containing 11 residues with the aa sequence of       RPKPQQFFGLM.                                                                   **5' untranslated sequences derived from the shorter APP770 cDNA form.         #5' untranslated sequences derived from the longer APP751 cDNA form.     

                  TABLE 2                                                          ______________________________________                                         Assembly of APP-REP Full-Length Constructs                                     Containing Substance P and Met-Enkephalin                                      Reporter Epitopes and BAP or a Variation of BAP                                                                  Restriction                                  Plasmid                                                                               Construct       Plasmid    Fragment                                     Name   Name/Variation  (N-Terminus)                                                                              (C-Terminus)                                 ______________________________________                                         pCLL918                                                                               APP-REP 695     pCLL983    pCLL947                                      pCLL964                                                                               APP-REP 751     pCLL935    pCLL947                                      pCLL962                                                                               APP-REP 770     pCLL934    pCLL947                                      pCLL919                                                                               APP-REP 695/BAP.sub.E22Q                                                                       pCLL983    pCLL949                                      pCLL989                                                                               APP-REP 751/BAP.sub.E22Q                                                                       pCLL935    pCLL949                                      pCLL987                                                                               APP-REP 770/BAP.sub.E22Q                                                                       pCLL934    pCLL949                                      pCLL920                                                                               APP-REP 695/BAP.sub.Δ11-28                                                               pCLL983    pCLL957                                      pCLL990                                                                               APP-REP 695/BAP.sub.Δ11-28                                                               pCLL935    pCLL957                                      pCLL988                                                                               APP-REP 695/BAP.sub.Δ11-28                                                               pCLL934    pCLL957                                      ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 3                                                          ______________________________________                                         Subcloning of APP-REP Full-Length Constructs                                   and Human Growth Hormone (hGH) into pcDNA-1-Neo[XS]                            Plasmid   Construct Name                                                       Name      (in pcDNA-1-neo)                                                                               Source of Insert                                     ______________________________________                                         pCLL600   pcDNA-1-neo-hGH p0GH*                                                pCLL601   pcDNA-1-neo[XS] Synthetic Fragment**                                 pCLL602   APP-REP 751     pCLL964                                              pCLL603#  APP-REP 751/BAP.sub.E22Q                                                                       pCLL989                                              pCLL604#  APP-REP 751/BAP.sub.Δ11-28                                                               pCLL990                                              pCLL605   APP-REP 770     pCLL962                                              pCLL606   APP-REP 770/BAP.sub.E22Q                                                                       pCLL987                                              pCLL607   APP-REP 770/BAP.sub.Δ11-28                                                               pCLL988                                              ______________________________________                                          Notes:                                                                         *The HindIIIEcoRI (bluntended) fragment encoding hGH sequences of p0HG         (Nichols Diagnostics) is subcloned into the HindIIIEcoRI (bluntended)          sites of pcDNA1-neo.                                                           **The HindIIIXbaI fragment of the pcDNA1-neo polylinker is replaced with       synthetic fragment which destroys the original XbaI site and introduces        several unique sites (HindIIIBamHI-Xba-I-XhoI-SalI).                           # Also may be created by an alternative strategy using the same pSK(+)         plasmids.                                                                

                                      TABLE 4                                      __________________________________________________________________________     "Secretase-Minus" APP-REP Constructs                                           Engineered by Oligonucleotide-Directed Mutagenesis                             Plamid                                                                              Mutation                                                                             Mutated BAP Sequence Percent**                                      Name Identity                                                                             Compared to Wild Type*                                                                              Secretion                                      __________________________________________________________________________                14 15 16 17 18 19 20                                                pCLL602                                                                             BAP*  CAT                                                                               CAA                                                                               AAA                                                                               TTG                                                                               GTG                                                                               TTC                                                                               TTT                                                                               100                                                       H  Q  K  L  V  F  F                                                 pCLL608                                                                             BAP-16KE                                                                             CAT                                                                               CAA                                                                               GAG                                                                               TTG                                                                               GTG                                                                               TTC                                                                               TTT                                                                                0                                                        H  Q  E  L  V  F  F                                                 pCLL609                                                                             BAP-16KV                                                                             CAT                                                                               CAA                                                                               GTG                                                                               TTG                                                                               GTG                                                                               TTC                                                                               TTT                                                                               10-20                                                     H  Q  E  L  V  F  F                                                 pCLL610                                                                             BAP-19FP                                                                             CAT                                                                               CAA                                                                               AAA                                                                               TTG                                                                               GTG                                                                               CCG                                                                               TTT                                                                               10-20                                                     H  Q  K  L  V  p  F                                                 __________________________________________________________________________      Notes:                                                                         *Wildtype BAP                                                                  **% secretion relative to wild type BAP sequence.                        

                                      TABLE 5                                      __________________________________________________________________________     APP-REP Constructs Modeling APP Mutations                                      Associated with Diseases Involving BAP Deposition                              __________________________________________________________________________     APP       // APP Transmembrane Domain //                                       "717" MUTATIONS                                                                          // [BAP]                                                             __________________________________________________________________________               771                                                                               712                                                                               713                                                                               714                                                                               715                                                                               716                                                                               717                                                                               718                                                                               719                                                    [40                                                                               41 42]                                                            pCLL602                                                                             APP* GTC                                                                               ATA                                                                               GCG                                                                               ACA                                                                               GTG                                                                               ATC                                                                               GTC                                                                               ATC                                                                               ACC                                                    V  I  A  T  V  I  V  I  T                                            pCLL611                                                                             717VI**                                                                             GTC                                                                               ATA                                                                               GCG                                                                               ACA                                                                               GTG                                                                               ATC                                                                               ATC                                                                               ATC                                                                               ACC                                                    V  I  A  T  V  I  I  I  T                                            pCLL612                                                                             717VG@                                                                              GTC                                                                               ATA                                                                               GCG                                                                               ACA                                                                               GTG                                                                               ATC                                                                               GGC                                                                               ATC                                                                               ACC                                                    V  I  A  T  V  I  G  I  T                                            pCLL613                                                                             717VF$                                                                              GTC                                                                               ATA                                                                               GCG                                                                               ACA                                                                               GTG                                                                               ATC                                                                               TTC                                                                               ATC                                                                               ACC                                                    V  I  A  T  V  I  F  I  T                                            __________________________________________________________________________     DUTCH DISEASE                                                                            V (Secretase Clip)                                                   __________________________________________________________________________               686                                                                               687                                                                               688                                                                               689                                                                               690                                                                               691                                                                               692                                                                               693                                                                               694                                                    [15                                                                               16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23]                                          pCLL602                                                                             BAP* CAA                                                                               AAA                                                                               TTG                                                                               GTG                                                                               TTC                                                                               TTT                                                                               GCA                                                                               GAA                                                                               GAT                                                    Q  K  L  V  F  F  A  E  D                                            pCLL603*                                                                            BAP.sub.E22Q                                                                        CAA                                                                               AAA                                                                               TTG                                                                               GTG                                                                               TTC                                                                               TTT                                                                               GCA                                                                               CAA                                                                               GAT                                          pCLL606#  Q  K  L  V  F  F  A  Q  D                                            __________________________________________________________________________      # APPREP-751 and 770 derived BAP.sub.E22Q constructs.                          **Goate et al. (1991) Nature, 349: 704-706; Yoshioka et al. (1991) BBRC        178: 1141-1146; Naruse et al. (1991) Lancet 337: 978-979.                      @ ChartierHarlin et al., (1991) Nature 353: 844-846.                           $ Murrell et al. (1991) Science 254: 97-99.                              

    __________________________________________________________________________     SEQUENCE LISTING                                                               (1) GENERAL INFORMATION:                                                       (iii) NUMBER OF SEQUENCES: 19                                                  (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:1:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 11 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:1:                                        ArgProLysProGlnGlnPhePheGlyLeuMet                                              1510                                                                           (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:2:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 5 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:2:                                        TyrGlyGlyPheMet                                                                15                                                                             (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:3:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 63 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:3:                                        ThrGluGluIleSerGluValLysMetAspAlaGluPheArgHisAsp                               151015                                                                         SerGlyTyrGluValHisHisGlnLysLeuValPhePheAlaGlnAsp                               202530                                                                         ValGlySerAsnLysGlyAlaIleIleGlyLeuMetValGlyGlyVal                               354045                                                                         ValIleAlaThrValIleValIleThrValMetLeuLysLysLys                                  505560                                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:4:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 63 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:4:                                        ThrGluGluIleSerGluValLysMetAspAlaGluPheArgHisAsp                               151015                                                                         SerGlyTyrGluValHisHisGlnLysLeuValPhePheAlaGluAsp                               202530                                                                         ValGlySerAsnLysGlyAlaIleIleGlyLeuMetValGlyGlyVal                               354045                                                                         ValIleAlaThrValIleValIleThrValMetLeuLysLysLys                                  505560                                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:5:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 45 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:5:                                        ThrGluGluIleSerGluValLysMetAspAlaGluPheArgHisAsp                               151015                                                                         SerAlaTyrGlyAlaIleIleGlyLeuMetValGlyGlyValValIle                               202530                                                                         AlaThrValIleValIleThrValMetLeuLysLysLys                                        354045                                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:6:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 8591 base pairs                                                    (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: double                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: circular                                                         (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: cDNA                                                       (ix) FEATURE:                                                                  (A) NAME/KEY: CDS                                                              (B) LOCATION: 2393..3868                                                       (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:6:                                        GGCGTAATCTGCTGCTTGCAAACAAAAAAACCACCGCTACCAGCGGTGGTTTGTTTGCCG60                 GATCAAGAGCTACCAACTCTTTTTCCGAAGGTAACTGGCTTCAGCAGAGCGCAGATACCA120                AATACTGTCCTTCTAGTGTAGCCGTAGTTAGGCCACCACTTCAAGAACTCTGTAGCACCG180                CCTACATACCTCGCTCTGCTAATCCTGTTACCAGTGGCTGCTGCCAGTGGCGATAAGTCG240                TGTCTTACCGGGTTGGACTCAAGACGATAGTTACCGGATAAGGCGCAGCGGTCGGGCTGA300                ACGGGGGGTTCGTGCACACAGCCCAGCTTGGAGCGAACGACCTACACCGAACTGAGATAC360                CTACAGCGTGAGCATTGAGAAAGCGCCACGCTTCCCGAAGGGAGAAAGGCGGACAGGTAT420                CCGGTAAGCGGCAGGGTCGGAACAGGAGAGCGCACGAGGGAGCTTCCAGGGGGAAACGCC480                TGGTATCTTTATAGTCCTGTCGGGTTTCGCCACCTCTGACTTGAGCGTCGATTTTTGTGA540                TGCTCGTCAGGGGGGCGGAGCCTATGGAAAAACGCCAGCAACGCAAGCTAGCTTCTAGCT600                AGAAATTGTAAACGTTAATATTTTGTTAAAATTCGCGTTAAATTTTTGTTAAATCAGCTC660                ATTTTTTAACCAATAGGCCGAAATCGGCAAAATCCCTTATAAATCAAAAGAATAGCCCGA720                GATAGGGTTGAGTGTTGTTCCAGTTTGGAACAAGAGTCCACTATTAAAGAACGTGGACTC780                CAACGTCAAAGGGCGAAAAACCGTCTATCAGGGCGATGGCCGCCCACTACGTGAACCATC840                ACCCAAATCAAGTTTTTTGGGGTCGAGGTGCCGTAAAGCACTAAATCGGAACCCTAAAGG900                GAGCCCCCGATTTAGAGCTTGACGGGGAAAGCCGGCGAACGTGGCGAGAAAGGAAGGGAA960                GAAAGCGAAAGGAGCGGGCGCTAGGGCGCTGGCAAGTGTAGCGGTCACGCTGCGCGTAAC1020               CACCACACCCGCCGCGCTTAATGCGCCGCTACAGGGCGCGTACTATGGTTGCTTTGACGA1080               GACCGTATAACGTGCTTTCCTCGTTGGAATCAGAGCGGGAGCTAAACAGGAGGCCGATTA1140               AAGGGATTTTAGACAGGAACGGTACGCCAGCTGGATCACCGCGGTCTTTCTCAACGTAAC1200               ACTTTACAGCGGCGCGTCATTTGATATGATGCGCCCCGCTTCCCGATAAGGGAGCAGGCC1260               AGTAAAAGCATTACCCGTGGTGGGGTTCCCGAGCGGCCAAAGGGAGCAGACTCTAAATCT1320               GCCGTCATCGACTTCGAAGGTTCGAATCCTTCCCCCACCACCATCACTTTCAAAAGTCCG1380               AAAGAATCTGCTCCCTGCTTGTGTGTTGGAGGTCGCTGAGTAGTGCGCGAGTAAAATTTA1440               AGCTACAACAAGGCAAGGCTTGACCGACAATTGCATGAAGAATCTGCTTAGGGTTAGGCG1500               TTTTGCGCTGCTTCGCGATGTACGGGCCAGATATACGCGTTGACATTGATTATTGACTAG1560               TTATTAATAGTAATCAATTACGGGGTCATTAGTTCATAGCCCATATATGGAGTTCCGCGT1620               TACATAACTTACGGTAAATGGCCCGCCTGGCTGACCGCCCAACGACCCCCGCCCATTGAC1680               GTCAATAATGACGTATGTTCCCATAGTAACGCCAATAGGGACTTTCCATTGACGTCAATG1740               GGTGGACTATTTACGGTAAACTGCCCACTTGGCAGTACATCAAGTGTATCATATGCCAAG1800               TACGCCCCCTATTGACGTCAATGACGGTAAATGGCCCGCCTGGCATTATGCCCAGTACAT1860               GACCTTATGGGACTTTCCTACTTGGCAGTACATCTACGTATTAGTCATCGCTATTACCAT1920               GGTGATGCGGTTTTGGCAGTACATCAATGGGCGTGGATAGCGGTTTGACTCACGGGGATT1980               TCCAAGTCTCCACCCCATTGACGTCAATGGGAGTTTGTTTTGGCACCAAAATCAACGGGA2040               CTTTCCAAAATGTCGTAACAACTCCGCCCCATTGACGCAAATGGGCGGTAGGCGTGTACG2100               GTGGGAGGTCTATATAAGCAGAGCTCTCTGGCTAACTAGAGAACCCACTGCTTAACTGGC2160               TTATCGAAATTAATACGACTCACTATAGGGAGACCGGAAGCTTGGGGATCCGCTCTAGAA2220               CTAGTGGATCCCCCGGGCTGCAGGAATTCGGGGGGGGCAGCGGTAGGCGAGAGCACGCGG2280               AGGAGCGTGCGCGGGGCCCCGGGAGACGGCGGCGGTGGCGGCGCGGGCAGAGCAAGGACG2340               CGGCGGATCCCACTCGCACAGCAGCGCACTCGGTGCCCCGCGCAGGGTCGCGATG2395                    Met                                                                            CTGCCCGGTTTGGCACTGCTCCTGCTGGCCGCCTGGACGGCTCGGGCG2443                           LeuProGlyLeuAlaLeuLeuLeuLeuAlaAlaTrpThrAlaArgAla                               51015                                                                          CTGGAGGTACCCACTGATGGTAATGCTGGCCTGCTGGCTGAACCCCAG2491                           LeuGluValProThrAspGlyAsnAlaGlyLeuLeuAlaGluProGln                               202530                                                                         ATTGCCATGTTCTGTGGCAGACTGAACATGCACATGAATGTCCAGAAT2539                           IleAlaMetPheCysGlyArgLeuAsnMetHisMetAsnValGlnAsn                               354045                                                                         GGGAAGTGGGATTCAGATCCATCAGGGACCAAAACCTGCATTGATACC2587                           GlyLysTrpAspSerAspProSerGlyThrLysThrCysIleAspThr                               50556065                                                                       AAGGAAGGCATCCTGCAGTATTGCCAAGAAGTCTACCCTGAACTGCAG2635                           LysGluGlyIleLeuGlnTyrCysGlnGluValTyrProGluLeuGln                               707580                                                                         ATCACCAATGTGGTAGAAGCCAACCAACCAGTGACCATCCAGAACTGG2683                           IleThrAsnValValGluAlaAsnGlnProValThrIleGlnAsnTrp                               859095                                                                         TGCAAGCGGGGCCGCAAGCAGTGCAAGACCCATCCCCACTTTGTGATT2731                           CysLysArgGlyArgLysGlnCysLysThrHisProHisPheValIle                               100105110                                                                      CCCTACCGCTGCTTAGTTGGTGAGTTTGTAAGTGATGCCCTTCTCGTT2779                           ProTyrArgCysLeuValGlyGluPheValSerAspAlaLeuLeuVal                               115120125                                                                      CCTGACAAGTGCAAATTCTTACACCAGGAGAGGATGGATGTTTGCGAA2827                           ProAspLysCysLysPheLeuHisGlnGluArgMetAspValCysGlu                               130135140145                                                                   ACTCATCTTCACTGGCACACCGTCGCCAAAGAGACATGCAGTGAGAAG2875                           ThrHisLeuHisTrpHisThrValAlaLysGluThrCysSerGluLys                               150155160                                                                      AGTACCAACTTGCATGACTACGGCATGTTGCTGCCCTGCGGAATTGAC2923                           SerThrAsnLeuHisAspTyrGlyMetLeuLeuProCysGlyIleAsp                               165170175                                                                      AAGTTCCGAGGGGTAGAGTTTGTGTGTTGCCCACTGGCTGAAGAAAGT2971                           LysPheArgGlyValGluPheValCysCysProLeuAlaGluGluSer                               180185190                                                                      GACAATGTGGATTCTGCTGATGCGGAGGAGGATGACTCGGATGTCTGG3019                           AspAsnValAspSerAlaAspAlaGluGluAspAspSerAspValTrp                               195200205                                                                      TGGGGCGGAGCAGACACAGACTATGCAGATGGGAGTGAAGACAAAGTA3067                           TrpGlyGlyAlaAspThrAspTyrAlaAspGlySerGluAspLysVal                               210215220225                                                                   GTAGAAGTAGCAGAGGAGGAAGAAGTGGCTGAGGTGGAAGAAGAAGAA3115                           ValGluValAlaGluGluGluGluValAlaGluValGluGluGluGlu                               230235240                                                                      GCCGATGATGACGAGGACGATGAGGATGGTGATGAGGTAGAGGAAGAG3163                           AlaAspAspAspGluAspAspGluAspGlyAspGluValGluGluGlu                               245250255                                                                      GCTGAGGAACCCTACGAAGAAGCCACAGAGAGAACCACCAGCATTGCC3211                           AlaGluGluProTyrGluGluAlaThrGluArgThrThrSerIleAla                               260265270                                                                      ACCACCACCACCACCACCACAGAGTCTGTGGAAGAGGTGGTTCGAGAG3259                           ThrThrThrThrThrThrThrGluSerValGluGluValValArgGlu                               275280285                                                                      GTGTGCTCTGAACAAGCCGAGACGGGGCCGTGCCGAGCAATGATCTCC3307                           ValCysSerGluGlnAlaGluThrGlyProCysArgAlaMetIleSer                               290295300305                                                                   CGCTGGTACTTTGATGTGACTGAAGGGAAGTGTGCCCCATTCTTTTAC3355                           ArgTrpTyrPheAspValThrGluGlyLysCysAlaProPhePheTyr                               310315320                                                                      GGCGGATGTGGCGGCAACCGGAACAACTTTGACACAGAAGAGTACTGC3403                           GlyGlyCysGlyGlyAsnArgAsnAsnPheAspThrGluGluTyrCys                               325330335                                                                      ATGGCCGTGTGTGGCAGCGCCATTCCTACAACAGCAGCCAGTACCCCT3451                           MetAlaValCysGlySerAlaIleProThrThrAlaAlaSerThrPro                               340345350                                                                      GATGCCGTTGACAAGTATCTCGAGCGGCCCAAGCCCCAGCAGTTCTTT3499                           AspAlaValAspLysTyrLeuGluArgProLysProGlnGlnPhePhe                               355360365                                                                      GGCCTGATGGGAAGCTTGACAAATATCAAGACGGAGGAGATCTCTGAA3547                           GlyLeuMetGlySerLeuThrAsnIleLysThrGluGluIleSerGlu                               370375380385                                                                   GTGAAGATGGATGCAGAATTCCGACATGACTCAGGATATGAAGTTCAT3595                           ValLysMetAspAlaGluPheArgHisAspSerGlyTyrGluValHis                               390395400                                                                      CATCAAAAATTGGTGTTCTTTGCAGAAGATGTGGGTTCAAACAAAGGT3643                           HisGlnLysLeuValPhePheAlaGluAspValGlySerAsnLysGly                               405410415                                                                      GCAATCATTGGACTCATGGTGGGCGGTGTTGTCATAGCGACAGTGATC3691                           AlaIleIleGlyLeuMetValGlyGlyValValIleAlaThrValIle                               420425430                                                                      GTCATCACCTTGGTGATGCTGAAGAAGAAACAGTACACATCCATTCAT3739                           ValIleThrLeuValMetLeuLysLysLysGlnTyrThrSerIleHis                               435440445                                                                      CATGGTGTGGTGGAGGTTGACGCCGCTGTCACCCCAGAGGAGCGCCAC3787                           HisGlyValValGluValAspAlaAlaValThrProGluGluArgHis                               450455460465                                                                   CTGTCCAAGATGCAGCAGAACGGCTACGAAAATCCAACCTACAAGTTC3835                           LeuSerLysMetGlnGlnAsnGlyTyrGluAsnProThrTyrLysPhe                               470475480                                                                      TTTGAGCAGATGCAGAACTATGGGGGCTTCATGTAGGATCCATATATAGGGCC3888                      PheGluGlnMetGlnAsnTyrGlyGlyPheMet                                              485490                                                                         CGGGTTATAATTACCTCAGGTCGACCTAGAGGGCCCTATTCTATAGTGTCACCTAAATGC3948               TAGAGGATCTTTGTGAAGGAACCTTACTTCTGTGGTGTGACATAATTGGACAAACTACCT4008               ACAGAGATTTAAAGCTCTAAGGTAAATATAAAATTTTTAAGTGTATAATGTGTTAAACTA4068               CTGATTCTAATTGTTTGTGTATTTTAGATTCCAACCTATGGAACTGATGAATGGGAGCAG4128               TGGTGGAATGCCTTTAATGAGGAAAACCTGTTTTGCTCAGAAGAAATGCCATCTAGTGAT4188               GATGAGGCTACTGCTGACTCTCAACATTCTACTCCTCCAAAAAAGAAGAGAAAGGTAGAA4248               GACCCCAAGGACTTTCCTTCAGAATTGCTAAGTTTTTTGAGTCATGCTGTGTTTAGTAAT4308               AGAACTCTTGCTTGCTTTGCTATTTACACCACAAAGGAAAAAGCTGCACTGCTATACAAG4368               AAAATTATGGAAAAATATTTGATGTATAGTGCCTTGACTAGAGATCATAATCAGCCATAC4428               CACATTTGTAGAGGTTTTACTTGCTTTAAAAAACCTCCCACACCTCCCCCTGAACCTGAA4488               ACATAAAATGAATGCAATTGTTGTTGTTAACTTGTTTATTGCAGCTTATAATGGTTACAA4548               ATAAAGCAATAGCATCACAAATTTCACAAATAAAGCATTTTTTTCACTGCATTCTAGTTG4608               TGGTTTGTCCAAACTCATCAATGTATCTTATCATGTCTGGATCTCCCGATCCCCTATGGT4668               GCACTCTCAGTACAATCTGCTCTGATGCCGCATAGTTAAGCCAGTATCTGCTCCCTGCTT4728               GTGTGTTGGAGGTCGCTGAGTAGTGCGCGAGCAAAATTTAAGCTACAACAAGGCAAGGCT4788               TGACCGACAATTGCATGAAGAATCTGCTTAGGGTTAGGCGTTTTGCGCTGCTTCGCGATG4848               TACGGGCCAGATATACGCGTATCTGAGGGGACTAGGGTGTGTTTAGGCGAAAAGCGGGGC4908               TTCGGTTGTACGCGGTTAGGAGTCCCCTCAGGATATAGTAGTTTCGCTTTTGCATAGGGA4968               GGGGGAAATGTAGTCTTATGCAATACACTTGTAGTCTTGCAACATGGTAACGATGAGTTA5028               GCAACATGCCTTACAAGGAGAGAAAAAGCACCGTGCATGCCGATTGGTGGAAGTAAGGTG5088               GTACGATCGTGCCTTATTAGGAAGGCAACAGACAGGTCTGACATGGATTGGACGAACCAC5148               TGAATTCCGCATTGCAGAGATAATTGTATTTAAGTGCCTAGCTCGATACAATAAACGCCA5208               TTTGACCATTCACCACATTGGTGTGCACCTCCTAGCTTCACGCTGCCGCAAGCACTCAGG5268               GCGCAAGGGCTGCTAAAGGAAGCGGAACACGTAGAAAGCCAGTCCGCAGAAACGGTGCTG5328               ACCCCGGATGAATGTCAGCTACTGGGCTATCTGGACAAGGGAAAACGCAAGCGCAAAGAG5388               AAAGCAGGTAGCTTGCAGTGGGCTTACATGGCGATAGCTAGACTGGGCGGTTTTATGGAC5448               AGCAAGCGAACCGGAATTGCCAGCTGGGGCGCCCTCTGGTAAGGTTGGGAAGCCCTGCAA5508               AGTAAACTGGATGGCTTTCTTGCCGCCAAGGATCTGATGGCGCAGGGGATCAAGATCTGA5568               TCAAGAGACAGGATGAGGATCGTTTCGCATGATTGAACAAGATGGATTGCACGCAGGTTC5628               TCCGGCCGCTTGGGTGGAGAGGCTATTCGGCTATGACTGGGCACAACAGACAATCGGCTG5688               CTCTGATGCCGCCGTGTTCCGGCTGTCAGCGCAGGGGCGCCCGGTTCTTTTTGTCAAGAC5748               CGACCTGTCCGGTGCCCTGAATGAACTGCAGGACGAGGCAGCGCGGCTATCGTGGCTGGC5808               CACGACGGGCGTTCCTTGCGCAGCTGTGCTCGACGTTGTCACTGAAGCGGGAAGGGACTG5868               GCTGCTATTGGGCGAAGTGCCGGGGCAGGATCTCCTGTCATCTCACCTTGCTCCTGCCGA5928               GAAAGTATCCATCATGGCTGATGCAATGCGGCGGCTGCATACGCTTGATCCGGCTACCTG5988               CCCATTCGACCACCAAGCGAAACATCGCATCGGCGAGCACGTACTCGGATGGAAGCCGGT6048               CTTGTCGATCAGGATGATCTGGACGAAGAGCATCAGGGGCTCGCGCCAGCCGAACTGTTC6108               GCCAGGCTCAAGGCGCGCATGCCCGACGGCGAGGATCTCGTCGTGACCCATGGCGATGCC6168               TGCTTGCCGAATATCATGGTGGAAAATGGCCGCTTTTCTGGATTCATCGACTGTGGCCGG6228               CTGGGTGTGGCGGACCGCTATCAGGACATAGCGTTGGCTACCCGTGATATTGCTGAAGAG6288               CTTGGCGGCGAATGGGCTGACCGCTTCCTCGTGCTTTACGGTATCGCCGCTCCCGATTCG6348               CAGCGCATCGCCTTCTATCGCCTTCTTGACGAGTTCTTCTGAGCGGGACTCTGGGGTTCG6408               AAATGACCGACCAAGCGACGCCCAACCTGCCATCACGAGATTTCGATTCCACCGCCGCCT6468               TCTATGAAAGGTTGGGCTTCGGAATCGTTTTCCGGGACGCCGGCTGGATGATCCTCCAGC6528               GCGGGGATCTCATGCTGGAGTTCTTCGCCCACCCCGGGCTCGATCCCCTCGCGAGTTGGT6588               TCAGCTGCTGCCTGAGGCTGGACGACCTCGCGGAGTTCTACCGGCAGTGCAAATCCGTCG6648               GCATCCAGGAAACCAGCAGCGGCTATCCGCGCATCCATGCCCCCGAACTGCAGGAGTGGG6708               GAGGCACGATGGCCGCTTTGGTCCCGGATCTTTGTGAAGGAACCTTACTTCTGTGGTGTG6768               ACATAATTGGACAAACTACCTACAGAGATTTAAAGCTCTAAGGTAAATATAAAATTTTTA6828               AGTGTATAATGTGTTAAACTACTGATTCTAATTGTTTGTGTATTTTAGATTCCAACCTAT6888               GGAACTGATGAATGGGAGCAGTGGTGGAATGCCTTTAATGAGGAAAACCTGTTTTGCTCA6948               GAAGAAATGCCATCTAGTGATGATGAGGCTACTGCTGACTCTCAACATTCTACTCCTCCA7008               AAAAAGAAGAGAAAGGTAGAAGACCCCAAGGACTTTCCTTCAGAATTGCTAAGTTTTTTG7068               AGTCATGCTGTGTTTAGTAATAGAACTCTTGCTTGCTTTGCTATTTACACCACAAAGGAA7128               AAAGCTGCACTGCTATACAAGAAAATTATGGAAAAATATTCTGTAACCTTTATAAGTAGG7188               CATAACAGTTATAATCATAACATACTGTTTTTTCTTACTCCACACAGGCATAGAGTGTCT7248               GCTATTAATAACTATGCTCAAAAATTGTGTACCTTTAGCTTTTTAATTTGTAAAGGGGTT7308               AATAAGGATTATTTGATGTATAGTGCCTTGACTAGAGATCATAATCAGCCATACCACATT7368               TGTAGAGGTTTTACTTGCTTTAAAAAACCTCCCACACCTCCCCCTGAACCTGAAACATAA7428               AATGAATGCAATTGTTGTTGTTAACTTGTTTATTGCAGCTTATAATGGTTACAAATAAAG7488               CAATAGCATCACAAATTTCACAAATAAAGCATTTTTTTCACTGCATTCTAGTTGTGGTTT7548               GTCCAAACTCATCAATGTATCTTATCATGTCTGGATCGATCCCGCCATGGTATCAACGCC7608               ATATTTCTATTTACAGTAGGGACCTCTTCGTTGTGTAGGTACCGCTGTATTCCTAGGGAA7668               ATAGTAGAGGCACCTTGAACTGTCTGCATCAGCCATATAGCCCCCGCTGTTCGACTTACA7728               AACACAGGCACAGTACTGACAAACCCATACACCTCCTCTGAAATACCCATAGTTGCTAGG7788               GCTGTCTCCGAACTCATTACACCCTCCAAAGTCAGAGCTGTAATTTCGCCATCAAGGGCA7848               GCGAGGGCTTCTCCAGATAAAATAGCTTCTGCCGAGAGTCCCGTAAGGGTAGACACTTCA7908               GCTAATCCCTCGATGAGGTCTACTAGAATAGTCAGTGCGGCTCCCATTTTGAAAATTCAC7968               TTACTTGATCAGCTTCAGAAGATGGCGGAGGGCCTCCAACACAGTAATTTTCCTCCCGAC8028               TCTTAAAATAGAAAATGTCAAGTCAGTTAAGCAGGAAGTGGACTAACTGACGCAGCTGGC8088               CGTGCGACATCCTCTTTTAATTAGTTGCTAGGCAACGCCCTCCAGAGGGCGTGTGGTTTT8148               GCAAGAGGAAGCAAAAGCCTCTCCACCCAGGCCTAGAATGTTTCCACCCAATCATTACTA8208               TGACAACAGCTGTTTTTTTTAGTATTAAGCAGAGGCCGGGGACCCCTGGGCCCGCTTACT8268               CTGGAGAAAAAGAAGAGAGGCATTGTAGAGGCTTCCAGAGGCAACTTGTCAAAACAGGAC8328               TGCTTCTATTTCTGTCACACTGTCTGGCCCTGTCACAAGGTCCAGCACCTCCATACCCCC8388               TTTAATAAGCAGTTTGGGAACGGGTGCGGGTCTTACTCCGCCCATCCCGCCCCTAACTCC8448               GCCCAGTTCCGCCCATTCTCCGCCCCATGGCTGACTAATTTTTTTTATTTATGCAGAGGC8508               CGAGGCCGCCTCGGCCTCTGAGCTATTCCAGAAGTAGTGAGGAGGCTTTTTTGGAGGCCT8568               AGGCTTTTGCAAAAAGCTAATTC8591                                                    (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:7:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 492 amino acids                                                    (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:7:                                        MetLeuProGlyLeuAlaLeuLeuLeuLeuAlaAlaTrpThrAlaArg                               151015                                                                         AlaLeuGluValProThrAspGlyAsnAlaGlyLeuLeuAlaGluPro                               202530                                                                         GlnIleAlaMetPheCysGlyArgLeuAsnMetHisMetAsnValGln                               354045                                                                         AsnGlyLysTrpAspSerAspProSerGlyThrLysThrCysIleAsp                               505560                                                                         ThrLysGluGlyIleLeuGlnTyrCysGlnGluValTyrProGluLeu                               65707580                                                                       GlnIleThrAsnValValGluAlaAsnGlnProValThrIleGlnAsn                               859095                                                                         TrpCysLysArgGlyArgLysGlnCysLysThrHisProHisPheVal                               100105110                                                                      IleProTyrArgCysLeuValGlyGluPheValSerAspAlaLeuLeu                               115120125                                                                      ValProAspLysCysLysPheLeuHisGlnGluArgMetAspValCys                               130135140                                                                      GluThrHisLeuHisTrpHisThrValAlaLysGluThrCysSerGlu                               145150155160                                                                   LysSerThrAsnLeuHisAspTyrGlyMetLeuLeuProCysGlyIle                               165170175                                                                      AspLysPheArgGlyValGluPheValCysCysProLeuAlaGluGlu                               180185190                                                                      SerAspAsnValAspSerAlaAspAlaGluGluAspAspSerAspVal                               195200205                                                                      TrpTrpGlyGlyAlaAspThrAspTyrAlaAspGlySerGluAspLys                               210215220                                                                      ValValGluValAlaGluGluGluGluValAlaGluValGluGluGlu                               225230235240                                                                   GluAlaAspAspAspGluAspAspGluAspGlyAspGluValGluGlu                               245250255                                                                      GluAlaGluGluProTyrGluGluAlaThrGluArgThrThrSerIle                               260265270                                                                      AlaThrThrThrThrThrThrThrGluSerValGluGluValValArg                               275280285                                                                      GluValCysSerGluGlnAlaGluThrGlyProCysArgAlaMetIle                               290295300                                                                      SerArgTrpTyrPheAspValThrGluGlyLysCysAlaProPhePhe                               305310315320                                                                   TyrGlyGlyCysGlyGlyAsnArgAsnAsnPheAspThrGluGluTyr                               325330335                                                                      CysMetAlaValCysGlySerAlaIleProThrThrAlaAlaSerThr                               340345350                                                                      ProAspAlaValAspLysTyrLeuGluArgProLysProGlnGlnPhe                               355360365                                                                      PheGlyLeuMetGlySerLeuThrAsnIleLysThrGluGluIleSer                               370375380                                                                      GluValLysMetAspAlaGluPheArgHisAspSerGlyTyrGluVal                               385390395400                                                                   HisHisGlnLysLeuValPhePheAlaGluAspValGlySerAsnLys                               405410415                                                                      GlyAlaIleIleGlyLeuMetValGlyGlyValValIleAlaThrVal                               420425430                                                                      IleValIleThrLeuValMetLeuLysLysLysGlnTyrThrSerIle                               435440445                                                                      HisHisGlyValValGluValAspAlaAlaValThrProGluGluArg                               450455460                                                                      HisLeuSerLysMetGlnGlnAsnGlyTyrGluAsnProThrTyrLys                               465470475480                                                                   PhePheGluGlnMetGlnAsnTyrGlyGlyPheMet                                           485490                                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:8:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 8591 base pairs                                                    (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: double                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: circular                                                         (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: cDNA                                                       (ix) FEATURE:                                                                  (A) NAME/KEY: CDS                                                              (B) LOCATION: 2393..3853                                                       (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:8:                                        GGCGTAATCTGCTGCTTGCAAACAAAAAAACCACCGCTACCAGCGGTGGTTTGTTTGCCG60                 GATCAAGAGCTACCAACTCTTTTTCCGAAGGTAACTGGCTTCAGCAGAGCGCAGATACCA120                AATACTGTCCTTCTAGTGTAGCCGTAGTTAGGCCACCACTTCAAGAACTCTGTAGCACCG180                CCTACATACCTCGCTCTGCTAATCCTGTTACCAGTGGCTGCTGCCAGTGGCGATAAGTCG240                TGTCTTACCGGGTTGGACTCAAGACGATAGTTACCGGATAAGGCGCAGCGGTCGGGCTGA300                ACGGGGGGTTCGTGCACACAGCCCAGCTTGGAGCGAACGACCTACACCGAACTGAGATAC360                CTACAGCGTGAGCATTGAGAAAGCGCCACGCTTCCCGAAGGGAGAAAGGCGGACAGGTAT420                CCGGTAAGCGGCAGGGTCGGAACAGGAGAGCGCACGAGGGAGCTTCCAGGGGGAAACGCC480                TGGTATCTTTATAGTCCTGTCGGGTTTCGCCACCTCTGACTTGAGCGTCGATTTTTGTGA540                TGCTCGTCAGGGGGGCGGAGCCTATGGAAAAACGCCAGCAACGCAAGCTAGCTTCTAGCT600                AGAAATTGTAAACGTTAATATTTTGTTAAAATTCGCGTTAAATTTTTGTTAAATCAGCTC660                ATTTTTTAACCAATAGGCCGAAATCGGCAAAATCCCTTATAAATCAAAAGAATAGCCCGA720                GATAGGGTTGAGTGTTGTTCCAGTTTGGAACAAGAGTCCACTATTAAAGAACGTGGACTC780                CAACGTCAAAGGGCGAAAAACCGTCTATCAGGGCGATGGCCGCCCACTACGTGAACCATC840                ACCCAAATCAAGTTTTTTGGGGTCGAGGTGCCGTAAAGCACTAAATCGGAACCCTAAAGG900                GAGCCCCCGATTTAGAGCTTGACGGGGAAAGCCGGCGAACGTGGCGAGAAAGGAAGGGAA960                GAAAGCGAAAGGAGCGGGCGCTAGGGCGCTGGCAAGTGTAGCGGTCACGCTGCGCGTAAC1020               CACCACACCCGCCGCGCTTAATGCGCCGCTACAGGGCGCGTACTATGGTTGCTTTGACGA1080               GACCGTATAACGTGCTTTCCTCGTTGGAATCAGAGCGGGAGCTAAACAGGAGGCCGATTA1140               AAGGGATTTTAGACAGGAACGGTACGCCAGCTGGATCACCGCGGTCTTTCTCAACGTAAC1200               ACTTTACAGCGGCGCGTCATTTGATATGATGCGCCCCGCTTCCCGATAAGGGAGCAGGCC1260               AGTAAAAGCATTACCCGTGGTGGGGTTCCCGAGCGGCCAAAGGGAGCAGACTCTAAATCT1320               GCCGTCATCGACTTCGAAGGTTCGAATCCTTCCCCCACCACCATCACTTTCAAAAGTCCG1380               AAAGAATCTGCTCCCTGCTTGTGTGTTGGAGGTCGCTGAGTAGTGCGCGAGTAAAATTTA1440               AGCTACAACAAGGCAAGGCTTGACCGACAATTGCATGAAGAATCTGCTTAGGGTTAGGCG1500               TTTTGCGCTGCTTCGCGATGTACGGGCCAGATATACGCGTTGACATTGATTATTGACTAG1560               TTATTAATAGTAATCAATTACGGGGTCATTAGTTCATAGCCCATATATGGAGTTCCGCGT1620               TACATAACTTACGGTAAATGGCCCGCCTGGCTGACCGCCCAACGACCCCCGCCCATTGAC1680               GTCAATAATGACGTATGTTCCCATAGTAACGCCAATAGGGACTTTCCATTGACGTCAATG1740               GGTGGACTATTTACGGTAAACTGCCCACTTGGCAGTACATCAAGTGTATCATATGCCAAG1800               TACGCCCCCTATTGACGTCAATGACGGTAAATGGCCCGCCTGGCATTATGCCCAGTACAT1860               GACCTTATGGGACTTTCCTACTTGGCAGTACATCTACGTATTAGTCATCGCTATTACCAT1920               GGTGATGCGGTTTTGGCAGTACATCAATGGGCGTGGATAGCGGTTTGACTCACGGGGATT1980               TCCAAGTCTCCACCCCATTGACGTCAATGGGAGTTTGTTTTGGCACCAAAATCAACGGGA2040               CTTTCCAAAATGTCGTAACAACTCCGCCCCATTGACGCAAATGGGCGGTAGGCGTGTACG2100               GTGGGAGGTCTATATAAGCAGAGCTCTCTGGCTAACTAGAGAACCCACTGCTTAACTGGC2160               TTATCGAAATTAATACGACTCACTATAGGGAGACCGGAAGCTTGGGGATCCGCTCTAGAA2220               CTAGTGGATCCCCCGGGCTGCAGGAATTCGGGGGGGGCAGCGGTAGGCGAGAGCACGCGG2280               AGGAGCGTGCGCGGGGCCCCGGGAGACGGCGGCGGTGGCGGCGCGGGCAGAGCAAGGACG2340               CGGCGGATCCCACTCGCACAGCAGCGCACTCGGTGCCCCGCGCAGGGTCGCGATG2395                    Met                                                                            1                                                                              CTGCCCGGTTTGGCACTGCTCCTGCTGGCCGCCTGGACGGCTCGGGCG2443                           LeuProGlyLeuAlaLeuLeuLeuLeuAlaAlaTrpThrAlaArgAla                               51015                                                                          CTGGAGGTACCCACTGATGGTAATGCTGGCCTGCTGGCTGAACCCCAG2491                           LeuGluValProThrAspGlyAsnAlaGlyLeuLeuAlaGluProGln                               202530                                                                         ATTGCCATGTTCTGTGGCAGACTGAACATGCACATGAATGTCCAGAAT2539                           IleAlaMetPheCysGlyArgLeuAsnMetHisMetAsnValGlnAsn                               354045                                                                         GGGAAGTGGGATTCAGATCCATCAGGGACCAAAACCTGCATTGATACC2587                           GlyLysTrpAspSerAspProSerGlyThrLysThrCysIleAspThr                               50556065                                                                       AAGGAAGGCATCCTGCAGTATTGCCAAGAAGTCTACCCTGAACTGCAG2635                           LysGluGlyIleLeuGlnTyrCysGlnGluValTyrProGluLeuGln                               707580                                                                         ATCACCAATGTGGTAGAAGCCAACCAACCAGTGACCATCCAGAACTGG2683                           IleThrAsnValValGluAlaAsnGlnProValThrIleGlnAsnTrp                               859095                                                                         TGCAAGCGGGGCCGCAAGCAGTGCAAGACCCATCCCCACTTTGTGATT2731                           CysLysArgGlyArgLysGlnCysLysThrHisProHisPheValIle                               100105110                                                                      CCCTACCGCTGCTTAGTTGGTGAGTTTGTAAGTGATGCCCTTCTCGTT2779                           ProTyrArgCysLeuValGlyGluPheValSerAspAlaLeuLeuVal                               115120125                                                                      CCTGACAAGTGCAAATTCTTACACCAGGAGAGGATGGATGTTTGCGAA2827                           ProAspLysCysLysPheLeuHisGlnGluArgMetAspValCysGlu                               130135140145                                                                   ACTCATCTTCACTGGCACACCGTCGCCAAAGAGACATGCAGTGAGAAG2875                           ThrHisLeuHisTrpHisThrValAlaLysGluThrCysSerGluLys                               150155160                                                                      AGTACCAACTTGCATGACTACGGCATGTTGCTGCCCTGCGGAATTGAC2923                           SerThrAsnLeuHisAspTyrGlyMetLeuLeuProCysGlyIleAsp                               165170175                                                                      AAGTTCCGAGGGGTAGAGTTTGTGTGTTGCCCACTGGCTGAAGAAAGT2971                           LysPheArgGlyValGluPheValCysCysProLeuAlaGluGluSer                               180185190                                                                      GACAATGTGGATTCTGCTGATGCGGAGGAGGATGACTCGGATGTCTGG3019                           AspAsnValAspSerAlaAspAlaGluGluAspAspSerAspValTrp                               195200205                                                                      TGGGGCGGAGCAGACACAGACTATGCAGATGGGAGTGAAGACAAAGTA3067                           TrpGlyGlyAlaAspThrAspTyrAlaAspGlySerGluAspLysVal                               210215220225                                                                   GTAGAAGTAGCAGAGGAGGAAGAAGTGGCTGAGGTGGAAGAAGAAGAA3115                           ValGluValAlaGluGluGluGluValAlaGluValGluGluGluGlu                               230235240                                                                      GCCGATGATGACGAGGACGATGAGGATGGTGATGAGGTAGAGGAAGAG3163                           AlaAspAspAspGluAspAspGluAspGlyAspGluValGluGluGlu                               245250255                                                                      GCTGAGGAACCCTACGAAGAAGCCACAGAGAGAACCACCAGCATTGCC3211                           AlaGluGluProTyrGluGluAlaThrGluArgThrThrSerIleAla                               260265270                                                                      ACCACCACCACCACCACCACAGAGTCTGTGGAAGAGGTGGTTCGAGAG3259                           ThrThrThrThrThrThrThrGluSerValGluGluValValArgGlu                               275280285                                                                      GTGTGCTCTGAACAAGCCGAGACGGGGCCGTGCCGAGCAATGATCTCC3307                           ValCysSerGluGlnAlaGluThrGlyProCysArgAlaMetIleSer                               290295300305                                                                   CGCTGGTACTTTGATGTGACTGAAGGGAAGTGTGCCCCATTCTTTTAC3355                           ArgTrpTyrPheAspValThrGluGlyLysCysAlaProPhePheTyr                               310315320                                                                      GGCGGATGTGGCGGCAACCGGAACAACTTTGACACAGAAGAGTACTGC3403                           GlyGlyCysGlyGlyAsnArgAsnAsnPheAspThrGluGluTyrCys                               325330335                                                                      ATGGCCGTGTGTGGCAGCGCCATTCCTACAACAGCAGCCAGTACCCCT3451                           MetAlaValCysGlySerAlaIleProThrThrAlaAlaSerThrPro                               340345350                                                                      GATGCCGTTGACAAGTATCTCGAGCGGCCCAAGCCCCAGCAGTTCTTT3499                           AspAlaValAspLysTyrLeuGluArgProLysProGlnGlnPhePhe                               355360365                                                                      GGCCTGATGGGAAGCTTGACAAATATCAAGACGGAGGAGATCTCTGAA3547                           GlyLeuMetGlySerLeuThrAsnIleLysThrGluGluIleSerGlu                               370375380385                                                                   GTGAAGATGGATGCAGAATTCCGACATGACTCAGGATATGAAGTTCAT3595                           ValLysMetAspAlaGluPheArgHisAspSerGlyTyrGluValHis                               390395400                                                                      CATCAAAAATTGGTGTTCTTTGCAGAAGATGTGGGTTCAAACAAAGGT3643                           HisGlnLysLeuValPhePheAlaGluAspValGlySerAsnLysGly                               405410415                                                                      GCAATCATTGGACTCATGGTGGGCGGTGTTGTCATAGCGACAGTGATC3691                           AlaIleIleGlyLeuMetValGlyGlyValValIleAlaThrValIle                               420425430                                                                      GTCATCACCTTGGTGATGCTGAAGAAGAAACAGTACACATCCATTCAT3739                           ValIleThrLeuValMetLeuLysLysLysGlnTyrThrSerIleHis                               435440445                                                                      CATGGTGTGGTGGAGGTTGACGCCGCTGTCACCCCAGAGGAGCGCCAC3787                           HisGlyValValGluValAspAlaAlaValThrProGluGluArgHis                               450455460465                                                                   CTGTCCAAGATGCAGCAGAACGGCTACGAAAATCCAACCTACAAGTTC3835                           LeuSerLysMetGlnGlnAsnGlyTyrGluAsnProThrTyrLysPhe                               470475480                                                                      TTTGAGCAGATGCAGAACTAGTGGGGCTTCATGTAGGATCCATATATA3883                           PheGluGlnMetGlnAsn                                                             485                                                                            GGGCCCGGGTTATAATTACCTCAGGTCGACCTAGAGGGCCCTATTCTATAGTGTCACCTA3943               AATGCTAGAGGATCTTTGTGAAGGAACCTTACTTCTGTGGTGTGACATAATTGGACAAAC4003               TACCTACAGAGATTTAAAGCTCTAAGGTAAATATAAAATTTTTAAGTGTATAATGTGTTA4063               AACTACTGATTCTAATTGTTTGTGTATTTTAGATTCCAACCTATGGAACTGATGAATGGG4123               AGCAGTGGTGGAATGCCTTTAATGAGGAAAACCTGTTTTGCTCAGAAGAAATGCCATCTA4183               GTGATGATGAGGCTACTGCTGACTCTCAACATTCTACTCCTCCAAAAAAGAAGAGAAAGG4243               TAGAAGACCCCAAGGACTTTCCTTCAGAATTGCTAAGTTTTTTGAGTCATGCTGTGTTTA4303               GTAATAGAACTCTTGCTTGCTTTGCTATTTACACCACAAAGGAAAAAGCTGCACTGCTAT4363               ACAAGAAAATTATGGAAAAATATTTGATGTATAGTGCCTTGACTAGAGATCATAATCAGC4423               CATACCACATTTGTAGAGGTTTTACTTGCTTTAAAAAACCTCCCACACCTCCCCCTGAAC4483               CTGAAACATAAAATGAATGCAATTGTTGTTGTTAACTTGTTTATTGCAGCTTATAATGGT4543               TACAAATAAAGCAATAGCATCACAAATTTCACAAATAAAGCATTTTTTTCACTGCATTCT4603               AGTTGTGGTTTGTCCAAACTCATCAATGTATCTTATCATGTCTGGATCTCCCGATCCCCT4663               ATGGTGCACTCTCAGTACAATCTGCTCTGATGCCGCATAGTTAAGCCAGTATCTGCTCCC4723               TGCTTGTGTGTTGGAGGTCGCTGAGTAGTGCGCGAGCAAAATTTAAGCTACAACAAGGCA4783               AGGCTTGACCGACAATTGCATGAAGAATCTGCTTAGGGTTAGGCGTTTTGCGCTGCTTCG4843               CGATGTACGGGCCAGATATACGCGTATCTGAGGGGACTAGGGTGTGTTTAGGCGAAAAGC4903               GGGGCTTCGGTTGTACGCGGTTAGGAGTCCCCTCAGGATATAGTAGTTTCGCTTTTGCAT4963               AGGGAGGGGGAAATGTAGTCTTATGCAATACACTTGTAGTCTTGCAACATGGTAACGATG5023               AGTTAGCAACATGCCTTACAAGGAGAGAAAAAGCACCGTGCATGCCGATTGGTGGAAGTA5083               AGGTGGTACGATCGTGCCTTATTAGGAAGGCAACAGACAGGTCTGACATGGATTGGACGA5143               ACCACTGAATTCCGCATTGCAGAGATAATTGTATTTAAGTGCCTAGCTCGATACAATAAA5203               CGCCATTTGACCATTCACCACATTGGTGTGCACCTCCTAGCTTCACGCTGCCGCAAGCAC5263               TCAGGGCGCAAGGGCTGCTAAAGGAAGCGGAACACGTAGAAAGCCAGTCCGCAGAAACGG5323               TGCTGACCCCGGATGAATGTCAGCTACTGGGCTATCTGGACAAGGGAAAACGCAAGCGCA5383               AAGAGAAAGCAGGTAGCTTGCAGTGGGCTTACATGGCGATAGCTAGACTGGGCGGTTTTA5443               TGGACAGCAAGCGAACCGGAATTGCCAGCTGGGGCGCCCTCTGGTAAGGTTGGGAAGCCC5503               TGCAAAGTAAACTGGATGGCTTTCTTGCCGCCAAGGATCTGATGGCGCAGGGGATCAAGA5563               TCTGATCAAGAGACAGGATGAGGATCGTTTCGCATGATTGAACAAGATGGATTGCACGCA5623               GGTTCTCCGGCCGCTTGGGTGGAGAGGCTATTCGGCTATGACTGGGCACAACAGACAATC5683               GGCTGCTCTGATGCCGCCGTGTTCCGGCTGTCAGCGCAGGGGCGCCCGGTTCTTTTTGTC5743               AAGACCGACCTGTCCGGTGCCCTGAATGAACTGCAGGACGAGGCAGCGCGGCTATCGTGG5803               CTGGCCACGACGGGCGTTCCTTGCGCAGCTGTGCTCGACGTTGTCACTGAAGCGGGAAGG5863               GACTGGCTGCTATTGGGCGAAGTGCCGGGGCAGGATCTCCTGTCATCTCACCTTGCTCCT5923               GCCGAGAAAGTATCCATCATGGCTGATGCAATGCGGCGGCTGCATACGCTTGATCCGGCT5983               ACCTGCCCATTCGACCACCAAGCGAAACATCGCATCGGCGAGCACGTACTCGGATGGAAG6043               CCGGTCTTGTCGATCAGGATGATCTGGACGAAGAGCATCAGGGGCTCGCGCCAGCCGAAC6103               TGTTCGCCAGGCTCAAGGCGCGCATGCCCGACGGCGAGGATCTCGTCGTGACCCATGGCG6163               ATGCCTGCTTGCCGAATATCATGGTGGAAAATGGCCGCTTTTCTGGATTCATCGACTGTG6223               GCCGGCTGGGTGTGGCGGACCGCTATCAGGACATAGCGTTGGCTACCCGTGATATTGCTG6283               AAGAGCTTGGCGGCGAATGGGCTGACCGCTTCCTCGTGCTTTACGGTATCGCCGCTCCCG6343               ATTCGCAGCGCATCGCCTTCTATCGCCTTCTTGACGAGTTCTTCTGAGCGGGACTCTGGG6403               GTTCGAAATGACCGACCAAGCGACGCCCAACCTGCCATCACGAGATTTCGATTCCACCGC6463               CGCCTTCTATGAAAGGTTGGGCTTCGGAATCGTTTTCCGGGACGCCGGCTGGATGATCCT6523               CCAGCGCGGGGATCTCATGCTGGAGTTCTTCGCCCACCCCGGGCTCGATCCCCTCGCGAG6583               TTGGTTCAGCTGCTGCCTGAGGCTGGACGACCTCGCGGAGTTCTACCGGCAGTGCAAATC6643               CGTCGGCATCCAGGAAACCAGCAGCGGCTATCCGCGCATCCATGCCCCCGAACTGCAGGA6703               GTGGGGAGGCACGATGGCCGCTTTGGTCCCGGATCTTTGTGAAGGAACCTTACTTCTGTG6763               GTGTGACATAATTGGACAAACTACCTACAGAGATTTAAAGCTCTAAGGTAAATATAAAAT6823               TTTTAAGTGTATAATGTGTTAAACTACTGATTCTAATTGTTTGTGTATTTTAGATTCCAA6883               CCTATGGAACTGATGAATGGGAGCAGTGGTGGAATGCCTTTAATGAGGAAAACCTGTTTT6943               GCTCAGAAGAAATGCCATCTAGTGATGATGAGGCTACTGCTGACTCTCAACATTCTACTC7003               CTCCAAAAAAGAAGAGAAAGGTAGAAGACCCCAAGGACTTTCCTTCAGAATTGCTAAGTT7063               TTTTGAGTCATGCTGTGTTTAGTAATAGAACTCTTGCTTGCTTTGCTATTTACACCACAA7123               AGGAAAAAGCTGCACTGCTATACAAGAAAATTATGGAAAAATATTCTGTAACCTTTATAA7183               GTAGGCATAACAGTTATAATCATAACATACTGTTTTTTCTTACTCCACACAGGCATAGAG7243               TGTCTGCTATTAATAACTATGCTCAAAAATTGTGTACCTTTAGCTTTTTAATTTGTAAAG7303               GGGTTAATAAGGATTATTTGATGTATAGTGCCTTGACTAGAGATCATAATCAGCCATACC7363               ACATTTGTAGAGGTTTTACTTGCTTTAAAAAACCTCCCACACCTCCCCCTGAACCTGAAA7423               CATAAAATGAATGCAATTGTTGTTGTTAACTTGTTTATTGCAGCTTATAATGGTTACAAA7483               TAAAGCAATAGCATCACAAATTTCACAAATAAAGCATTTTTTTCACTGCATTCTAGTTGT7543               GGTTTGTCCAAACTCATCAATGTATCTTATCATGTCTGGATCGATCCCGCCATGGTATCA7603               ACGCCATATTTCTATTTACAGTAGGGACCTCTTCGTTGTGTAGGTACCGCTGTATTCCTA7663               GGGAAATAGTAGAGGCACCTTGAACTGTCTGCATCAGCCATATAGCCCCCGCTGTTCGAC7723               TTACAAACACAGGCACAGTACTGACAAACCCATACACCTCCTCTGAAATACCCATAGTTG7783               CTAGGGCTGTCTCCGAACTCATTACACCCTCCAAAGTCAGAGCTGTAATTTCGCCATCAA7843               GGGCAGCGAGGGCTTCTCCAGATAAAATAGCTTCTGCCGAGAGTCCCGTAAGGGTAGACA7903               CTTCAGCTAATCCCTCGATGAGGTCTACTAGAATAGTCAGTGCGGCTCCCATTTTGAAAA7963               TTCACTTACTTGATCAGCTTCAGAAGATGGCGGAGGGCCTCCAACACAGTAATTTTCCTC8023               CCGACTCTTAAAATAGAAAATGTCAAGTCAGTTAAGCAGGAAGTGGACTAACTGACGCAG8083               CTGGCCGTGCGACATCCTCTTTTAATTAGTTGCTAGGCAACGCCCTCCAGAGGGCGTGTG8143               GTTTTGCAAGAGGAAGCAAAAGCCTCTCCACCCAGGCCTAGAATGTTTCCACCCAATCAT8203               TACTATGACAACAGCTGTTTTTTTTAGTATTAAGCAGAGGCCGGGGACCCCTGGGCCCGC8263               TTACTCTGGAGAAAAAGAAGAGAGGCATTGTAGAGGCTTCCAGAGGCAACTTGTCAAAAC8323               AGGACTGCTTCTATTTCTGTCACACTGTCTGGCCCTGTCACAAGGTCCAGCACCTCCATA8383               CCCCCTTTAATAAGCAGTTTGGGAACGGGTGCGGGTCTTACTCCGCCCATCCCGCCCCTA8443               ACTCCGCCCAGTTCCGCCCATTCTCCGCCCCATGGCTGACTAATTTTTTTTATTTATGCA8503               GAGGCCGAGGCCGCCTCGGCCTCTGAGCTATTCCAGAAGTAGTGAGGAGGCTTTTTTGGA8563               GGCCTAGGCTTTTGCAAAAAGCTAATTC8591                                               (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:9:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 487 amino acids                                                    (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:9:                                        MetLeuProGlyLeuAlaLeuLeuLeuLeuAlaAlaTrpThrAlaArg                               151015                                                                         AlaLeuGluValProThrAspGlyAsnAlaGlyLeuLeuAlaGluPro                               202530                                                                         GlnIleAlaMetPheCysGlyArgLeuAsnMetHisMetAsnValGln                               354045                                                                         AsnGlyLysTrpAspSerAspProSerGlyThrLysThrCysIleAsp                               505560                                                                         ThrLysGluGlyIleLeuGlnTyrCysGlnGluValTyrProGluLeu                               65707580                                                                       GlnIleThrAsnValValGluAlaAsnGlnProValThrIleGlnAsn                               859095                                                                         TrpCysLysArgGlyArgLysGlnCysLysThrHisProHisPheVal                               100105110                                                                      IleProTyrArgCysLeuValGlyGluPheValSerAspAlaLeuLeu                               115120125                                                                      ValProAspLysCysLysPheLeuHisGlnGluArgMetAspValCys                               130135140                                                                      GluThrHisLeuHisTrpHisThrValAlaLysGluThrCysSerGlu                               145150155160                                                                   LysSerThrAsnLeuHisAspTyrGlyMetLeuLeuProCysGlyIle                               165170175                                                                      AspLysPheArgGlyValGluPheValCysCysProLeuAlaGluGlu                               180185190                                                                      SerAspAsnValAspSerAlaAspAlaGluGluAspAspSerAspVal                               195200205                                                                      TrpTrpGlyGlyAlaAspThrAspTyrAlaAspGlySerGluAspLys                               210215220                                                                      ValValGluValAlaGluGluGluGluValAlaGluValGluGluGlu                               225230235240                                                                   GluAlaAspAspAspGluAspAspGluAspGlyAspGluValGluGlu                               245250255                                                                      GluAlaGluGluProTyrGluGluAlaThrGluArgThrThrSerIle                               260265270                                                                      AlaThrThrThrThrThrThrThrGluSerValGluGluValValArg                               275280285                                                                      GluValCysSerGluGlnAlaGluThrGlyProCysArgAlaMetIle                               290295300                                                                      SerArgTrpTyrPheAspValThrGluGlyLysCysAlaProPhePhe                               305310315320                                                                   TyrGlyGlyCysGlyGlyAsnArgAsnAsnPheAspThrGluGluTyr                               325330335                                                                      CysMetAlaValCysGlySerAlaIleProThrThrAlaAlaSerThr                               340345350                                                                      ProAspAlaValAspLysTyrLeuGluArgProLysProGlnGlnPhe                               355360365                                                                      PheGlyLeuMetGlySerLeuThrAsnIleLysThrGluGluIleSer                               370375380                                                                      GluValLysMetAspAlaGluPheArgHisAspSerGlyTyrGluVal                               385390395400                                                                   HisHisGlnLysLeuValPhePheAlaGluAspValGlySerAsnLys                               405410415                                                                      GlyAlaIleIleGlyLeuMetValGlyGlyValValIleAlaThrVal                               420425430                                                                      IleValIleThrLeuValMetLeuLysLysLysGlnTyrThrSerIle                               435440445                                                                      HisHisGlyValValGluValAspAlaAlaValThrProGluGluArg                               450455460                                                                      HisLeuSerLysMetGlnGlnAsnGlyTyrGluAsnProThrTyrLys                               465470475480                                                                   PhePheGluGlnMetGlnAsn                                                          485                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:10:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 47 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:10:                                       LysLysLysGlnTyrThrSerIleHisHisGlyValValGluValAsp                               151015                                                                         AlaAlaValThrProGluGluArgHisLeuSerLysMetGlnGlnAsn                               202530                                                                         GlyTyrGluAsnProThrTyrLysPhePheGluGlnMetGlnAsn                                  354045                                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:11:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 47 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:11:                                       LysLysLysGlnAlaThrSerIleHisHisGlyValValGluValAsp                               151015                                                                         AlaAlaValThrProGluGluArgHisLeuSerLysMetGlnGlnAsn                               202530                                                                         GlyTyrGluAsnProThrTyrLysPhePheGluGlnMetGlnAsn                                  354045                                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:12:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 47 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:12:                                       LysLysLysGlnTyrAlaSerIleHisHisGlyValValGluValAsp                               151015                                                                         AlaAlaValThrProGluGluArgHisLeuSerLysMetGlnGlnAsn                               202530                                                                         GlyTyrGluAsnProThrTyrLysPhePheGluGlnMetGlnAsn                                  354045                                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:13:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 47 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:13:                                       LysLysLysGlnTyrThrAlaIleHisHisGlyValValGluValAsp                               151015                                                                         AlaAlaValThrProGluGluArgHisLeuSerLysMetGlnGlnAsn                               202530                                                                         GlyTyrGluAsnProThrTyrLysPhePheGluGlnMetGlnAsn                                  354045                                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:14:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 47 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:14:                                       LysLysLysGlnTyrThrSerIleHisHisGlyValValGluValAsp                               151015                                                                         AlaAlaValAlaProGluGluArgHisLeuSerLysMetGlnGlnAsn                               202530                                                                         GlyTyrGluAsnProThrTyrLysPhePheGluGlnMetGlnAsn                                  354045                                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:15:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 47 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:15:                                       LysLysLysGlnTyrThrSerIleHisHisGlyValValGluValAsp                               151015                                                                         AlaAlaValThrProGluGluArgHisLeuAlaLysMetGlnGlnAsn                               202530                                                                         GlyTyrGluAsnProThrTyrLysPhePheGluGlnMetGlnAsn                                  354045                                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:16:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 47 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:16:                                       LysLysLysGlnTyrThrSerIleHisHisGlyValValGluValAsp                               151015                                                                         AlaAlaValThrProGluGluArgHisLeuSerLysMetGlnGlnAsn                               202530                                                                         GlyAlaGluAsnProThrTyrLysPhePheGluGlnMetGlnAsn                                  354045                                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:17:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 47 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:17:                                       LysLysLysGlnTyrThrSerIleHisHisGlyValValGluValAsp                               151015                                                                         AlaAlaValThrProGluGluArgHisLeuSerLysMetGlnGlnAsn                               202530                                                                         GlyTyrGluAsnProAlaTyrLysPhePheGluGlnMetGlnAsn                                  354045                                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:18:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 47 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:18:                                       LysLysLysGlnTyrThrSerIleHisHisGlyValValGluValAsp                               151015                                                                         AlaAlaValThrProGluGluArgHisLeuSerLysMetGlnGlnAsn                               202530                                                                         GlyTyrGluAsnProThrAlaLysPhePheGluGlnMetGlnAsn                                  354045                                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:19:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 42 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:19:                                       AspAlaGluPheArgHisAspSerGlyTyrGluValHisHisGlnLys                               151015                                                                         LeuValPhePheAlaGluAspValGlySerAsnLysGlyAlaIleIle                               202530                                                                         GlyLeuMetValGlyGlyValValIleAla                                                 3540                                                                           __________________________________________________________________________ 

What is claim is:
 1. A purified and isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding an amyloid precursor mutein comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a marker and a nucleic acid sequence encoding about 419 amino acid residues of the APP-695 isoform, about 475 amino acid residues of the APP-751 isoform or about 494 amino acid residues of the APP-770 isoform wherein the nucleic acid molecule is an XbaI-SalI fragment of the gene encoding an amyloid precursor protein isoform.
 2. The nucleic acid molecule of claim 1, wherein the nucleic acid molecule is DNA, cDNA, or RNA.
 3. The nucleic acid molecule of claim 1, wherein the nucleic acid sequence encodes the entire β-amyloid protein domain.
 4. The nucleic acid molecule of claim 1, wherein the amyloid precursor mutein is selected from the group consisting of pCLL602 which is identified as Sequence I.D. No. 6, pCLL603, pCLL605, pCLL606, pCLL608, pCLL609, pCLL610, pCLL611, pCLL612, pCLL613, pCLL621 which is identified as Sequence I.D. No. 8, pCLL918, pCLL919, pCLL962, pCLL964, pCLL987 and pCLL989.
 5. The nucleic acid molecule of claim 1, wherein the amino acid residues from position 11 to position 28 are deleted from the sequence encoding the β-amyloid protein domain.
 6. The nucleic acid molecule of claim 5, wherein the amyloid precursor mutein is selected from the group consisting of pCLL604, pCLL607, pCLL920, pCLL988 and pCLL
 990. 7. A vector comprising the nucleic acid sequence of the nucleic acid molecule.
 8. A host cell stably transformed or transfected by a vector comprising the nucleic acid sequence of the nucleic acid molecule of claim
 5. 9. The nucleic acid molecule of claim 1, further including an alanine substitution at a phosphorylation site within the cytoplasmic domain of an amyloid precursor protein.
 10. The nucleic acid molecule of claim 9, wherein the amyloid precursor mutein is selected from the group consisting of pCLL614, pCLL615, pCLL616, pCLL626, pCLL627, pCLL628, pCLL629, pCLL630 and pCLL631.
 11. A vector comprising the nucleic acid sequence of the nucleic acid molecule of claim
 9. 12. A host cell stably transformed or transfected by a vector comprising the nucleic acid sequence of the nucleic acid molecule of claim
 9. 13. A vector comprising the nucleic acid sequence of the nucleic acid molecule of claim
 1. 14. A host cell stably transformed or transfected by a vector comprising the nucleic acid sequence of the nucleic acid molecule of claim
 1. 